Morning Coffee – Mon, Nov 7

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For first time DeRozan couldn’t clean up Raptors mess – Sportsnet.ca

Michael Grange joins Eric Smith to analyze the Toronto Raptors performance in a loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Raptors, without Jonas Valanciunas, lose to road-weary Kings | Toronto Sun

Cousins lauded the play of the two young Raptors after the game.
“The two young big fellas had a lot of energy,” Cousins said. “They were tough, they were physical and they did a pretty good job.”
But it wasn’t enough as between them Cousins and Koufos outscored the two Toronto rookies by a 35-16 margin.
“We were out of it the entire night offensively,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. “We were off rhythm. They did a good job of sending bodies off of our young guys and on to DeMar (DeRozan) and Kyle (Lowry) and our shooters. We didn’t do a good job of making sure we got off quick enough to move the basketball.”
What it meant was plenty of attention on DeRozan and Lowry as the Kings cheated off the likes of Siakam and Poeltl to make things tougher on the Raptors two big scorers.
It was effective as DeRozan was held under 30 points for the first time all season finishing with a team-high 23. Lowry had 15.
“Whenever I used screens, they blitzed me,” DeRozan said. “They tried to get the ball out of my hands. More so (I have to) help our young guys understand what to do when they double-team me or Kyle in that position, be able to short-roll, expect the ball, be able to swing and make a play.”

Raptors fall to Kings, DeRozan streak ends | Toronto Star

Valanciunas, listed as day-to-day with knee swelling from an incident last week that he says he can’t remember, would have been nice to have to battle Cousins, who shredded Toronto for 22 points and 14 rebounds. Poeltl, Nogueira and rookie Pascal Siakam did what they could, but they were over-matched.
“They played as well as you can against Cousins. He’s one of the hardest matchups that you can have in the NBA,” coach Dwane Casey said of Cousins. “His physicality, his speed and quickness, his ability to score, draw fouls is uncanny. That’s a tough matchup for any big player. I thought Poeltl did a good job until he got into foul trouble, and then he got tentative like most guys do.”
It was always going to be a season of learning for the Toronto rookies, who have been force-fed more minutes thanks to an injury to Jared Sullinger and a sore ankle that cost Nogueira his spot in the rotation.
For the most part, the two kids have been good to very good, lauded for their savvy and their work ethic. The sting of a loss notwithstanding, they’ll take something away from Sunday as well.
“I gotta live with that,” Poeltl said of the fouls that limited him to 18 ½ minutes. “Some of them are stupid fouls on my part, and some of them are a little cheap where I can’t really do anything about it. But the way I gotta approach it is, take away the stupid fouls I’m making and all of a sudden I’m not in foul trouble anymore, because I can take the one or two fouls that maybe aren’t too much contact. I can take that and still be out there on the court.”

Cousins and Gay combine for 55, Raptors fall to Kings – Sportsnet.ca

Rudy Gay scored 23 and DeMarcus Cousins added 22 as the Sacramento Kings topped the Toronto Raptors 96-91.

Game Rap: Raptors 91, Kings 96 | Toronto Raptors

IT WAS OVER WHEN
a Kyle Lowry three-point attempt was off the mark with 29.9 seconds remaining and the Kings ahead by four. A pair of Sacramento free throws on the following possession put the Kings ahead by six and kept the game out of reach for the Raptors. After coming to Toronto 0-4 on their five-game road trip, the Kings collected a 96-91 victory on the second night of a back-to-back.

Kings Cool DeRozan’s Scorching Start | Sacramento Kings

The two-time All-Star gave credit where credit was due, complementing the Kings on their strategy to slow him down. Sacramento played an aggressive brand of defense that certainly stifled DeRozan’s efforts on Sunday night. The Raptors guard told reporters after the game that the Kings would “blitz me, tried to get the ball out of my hands” whenever he tried to attack on the pick and roll.
“There’s a lot to learn from with how they were guarding me and Kyle (Lowry) – what to expect if teams blitz us in screen-and-rolls, what the bigs are supposed to do, how to find the weakside, small things like that,” DeRozan told the Toronto media contingent. “Like I said, it’s a great learning tool for us.”
For the Kings, slowing down one of the league’s premier scorers in a victory is a great “learning tool” as well. It’s a character-building milestone for team that’s faced some early season adversity.

Kings Render the Raptors Extinct, Win 96-91 – Sactown Royalty

After a slow first quarter where the Kings appeared to be facing the same problems against the Toronto Raptors that they faced against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic. After falling down early, the bench crew came in and helped bring the game back to a competitive level. Despite DeMarcus Cousins being held without a field goal against whoever those made up players that the Raptors had at the center position for a majority of the first half, he eventually found his groove and ended up making some key buckets down the stretch. Same goes for Rudy, who made some key plays, himself. Garrett Temple and Matt Barnes each continued to impress off the bench, with each immediately letting their presence be known off the bench. Ty Lawson may not have had a great shooting night, but his play-making was on point. He had 11 assists to only one turnover.
On the Raptors end, the Raptors failed to get Kyle Lowry or Demar DeRozan going. For the first time this season DeRozan scored under 30 points (he came into the game averaging 35 ppg). Lowry struggled to even hit the rim for much of the night; even going as far as launching a layup over the top of the backboard in a moment that is certain to end up on Shaqtin’ a Fool.

Kings Hold Off Raptors in Toronto | Sacramento Kings

In addition to Gay, DeMarcus Cousins found his edge against a thin Raptors frontline. The Kings All-Star scored 22 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out four assists against Toronto, who missed Jonas Valanciunas due to a left knee contusion. Cousins also shot a solid 8-of-11 from the charity stripe.
Sactown also rediscovered its defensive identity established in the first three games of the season. The squad limited Toronto to just 36-percent shooting from the field as well as 23 percent from three-point distance. Led by Arron Afflalo, the purple and black also became the first team this season to hold DeMar DeRozan below 30 points. DeRozan finished with 23, well under the 36 points per night he had been averaging coming into Sunday’s game.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMePNuDA2UP/

Sacramento Kings Defeat The Toronto Raptors, Somehow…

Like most games for Sacramento this season, the purple and white were competitive in today’s game. In the first half, Toronto lead for the most part, but the Kings kept the score close against the Eastern Conference powerhouse.
Then the second half was in session, and the Kings were able to rally. As a result, the Kings lead the Raptors 68-66 after three-quarters. When the final period came into play, it was a gritty battle as both teams swapped leads continuously. But in the end, Sacramento was able to lean on Cousins and Gay to help the team come up on top.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMfM_Lngp9m/

Raptors misfire in loss to the Kings, 96-91 – Raptors HQ

To begin with, the bench trio of Terrence Ross, Patrick Patterson, and Cory Joseph were only sporadically effective. Each finished in the negative for plus/minus on the game, though there were individual plays here and there that stood out. (A brilliant chase down block from Patterson; a run of steals from Ross; stout defense and a first half buzzer beater from Joseph.) None of them could reliably hit shots though, going a combined 6-for-22 (including a ghastly 3-for-11 from deep, and another zero percent night from Patterson). Norman Powell got a spot of minutes, putting in four points, but it wasn’t quite enough to offset the collective forgettable outing from the bench.
Speaking of forgettable, we officially need to send a search party out for DeMarre Carroll and his lost game. I’m not sure where it wandered off to. Carroll again shot horribly (1-for-8 from the field, including 0-for-5 from three), and while he was still out there cutting and gamely trying to defend guys, DC did not have it tonight.
At the top of the pyramid were the efforts of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. On Lowry’s side of things, the assist numbers were way up (10 in the game) but his shooting remained off — 5-for-16 on the night, including 3-for-10 from three. And while it’s hard to bag on DeRozan now given the tear he’s been on to start the season, this was the DeMar we’ve seen more often than not in the last couple of years. He shot 7-for-20 for 23 points, but was often drawn into double teams from which there was no escape. The flow of the offense often appeared to stall. The Raptors finished with 22 assists, which is actually up from their typical game, but it didn’t help.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMfXZ3SgwEl/

Despite loss, Raptors still a franchise Kings wish they’d become – Sportsnet.ca

Lowry, DeMarre Carroll and Patrick Patterson were a combined 3-of-17 from deep, all the makes by Lowry, who was 3-of-10 but is shooting 28 per cent on the year.
“I know I have to play better and the team has to play better,” said Lowry after scoring 15 points and adding 10 assists. “It’s only one loss but there’s a lot of pressure on our team because we’re one of the better teams and I put a lot of pressure on myself because I’m one of our better players. We just have to play better as a group and myself individually.
And the threes?
“We have to shoot the ball better. It’s not a concern but we have to find a way to make the shots,” he said. “We have to shoot more and get in the gym and shoot even more, get extra shots up. But we’ll see what happens. Our confidence is there.”
DeRozan finished with 23 but on 20 shots. He looked a bit gassed at times. He missed a pair of three throws that would’ve tied the score with 2:14 left. Instead the Kings led 90-88 and never looked back.
He noticed how the Kings were attacking him off screen-and-rolls, forcing him to make passes. With Valanciunas out rookies Poeltl and Siakam were occasionally a beat behind when it came time to make the Kings pay by diving to basket or popping out. Add in wayward three-point shooting and it made for a long night.

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Valanciunas taking knee injury day by day – Sportsnet.ca

Jonas Valanciunas talks with the media about being day-to-day with a knee injury.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMfXpcUBfhi/

Raptors sit hurting Jonas Valanciunas | Toronto Sun

According to team officials, Valanciunas argued vehemently to stay in and take on the Cousins challenge but the team ruled the risk too great at such an early stage of the year and ruled him out.
It’s no secret Cousins and Valanciunas have had some contentious battles in the past and Valanciunas was looking forward to re-engaging the Sacramento Kings’ big man.
The team is not even aware when Valanciunas initially bruised the knee, but with two days off before the next game in Oklahoma City on Wednesday the team viewed it as prudent to sit their starting centre down for this one.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMfe-ZuAz-o/

Home Court: 3 on 3 – The good & the bad – Video – TSN