Sabonis posts triple-double and DeRozan dominates fourth quarter to help Kings top Raptors
Domantas Sabonis posted his third triple-double of the season and DeMar DeRozan fueled a big fourth-quarter run to take down the Toronto Raptors.
DeRozan scored 27 points to lead the Kings to a 122-107 victory Wednesday before a crowd of 16,026 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Keegan Murray had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Kings (5-3). De’Aaron Fox added 21 points. Sabonis finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.
RJ Barrett scored 23 points to lead the Raptors (2-7). Former Kings guard Davion Mitchell had 20 points and six assists. Chris Boucher came off the bench to score 17 points.
The Kings came home after going 3-1 on a circuitous four-game road trip that took them to Utah, Atlanta, Toronto and Miami. They avenged the only loss on the trip after falling 131-128 to the Raptors in overtime Saturday in Toronto.
“Good win by our guys,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “It’s good from the standpoint that when you go east and you’re in the East as long as we were, and travel the way we did coming back, all that stuff, to come home and lock in against a team that plays as hard as Toronto does, to get away with a win is a fantastic job by our guys.”
Kevin Huerter returned to the starting lineup to score 11 points after missing the past two games due to illness. The Raptors were missing some key players due to injuries, including Scottie Barnes (right orbital fracture), Bruce Brown (knee surgery), Kelly Olynyk (lumbar strain) and Immanuel Quickley (right pelvic contusion).
Murray recorded his fourth double-double of the season. He grabbed seven offensive rebounds to help the Kings finish with a 25-18 advantage in second-chance points.
“We’re one of the smaller teams in the league, but whenever I can just fly and use my athleticism to go up and get a rebound, I just go and see what happens,” Murray said.
Brown raved about Murray’s game and his positional versatility as a two-way player who can score, rebound and defend.
“Keegan was a monster,” Brown said. “Seven offensive rebounds, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
The Kings trailed 33-30 after allowing Toronto to shoot 56% from the field in the first quarter. The Raptors went up by nine early in the second quarter before the Kings came back to take a 46-45 lead on a 3-pointer by Huerter with 3:59 to go in the half.
Sacramento led 57-54 at the halftime break. The Kings shot just 41.3% from the field, went 7 of 23 (.304) from 3-point range and got outscored 36-20 on points in the paint, but they were a perfect 12 of 12 at the free-throw line.
Toronto took a 61-60 lead on a basket by Barrett early in the second half. The Raptors went up 77-69 on a layup by Jakob Poeltl before the Kings staged an 8-0 run to tie the game on a layup by Malik Monk.
The Raptors led 93-89 at the end of the third quarter. The Kings finally took control in the fourth, outscoring the Raptors 11-4 over the first four minutes to take a 101-97 lead on a three-point play by DeRozan. They broke the game open with a subsequent 16-2 run that put them up 118-102.
DeRozan scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, going 5 of 5 from the field, to help the Kings outscore the Raptors 33-14.
“Obviously, DeMar down the stretch, he closed it for us,” Brown said. “It was great to see him getting to his spot and letting him go to work.”
The Kings went 12 of 20 (60%) from the field and 3 of 7 (42.9%) from 3-point range in the fourth while the Raptors went 6 of 20 (30%) and 1 of 9 (11.1%).
Backup center Alex Len was named defensive player of the game after coming off the bench to post six rebounds and four blocked shots in 14 minutes, including three blocks in the fourth quarter.
“We knew we should have been playing a bit better, but they’re a very scrappy team and talented,” Sabonis said. “They’re playing a way that’s very hard for other teams. In that fourth quarter, we just kind of locked in mentally and that’s what led to easy buckets.”
High praise for DeRozan
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic had high praise for DeRozan after the game.
“He did a really good job,” Rajakovic said. “Thought we did a good job of being disciplined, staying down on his shot fakes. He was taking and making really tough shots. Down the stretch, we went to trap him, sending two players to him. He was patient enough, he was able to move the ball and make the right reads. Really tough cover and it was a very good learning opportunity for our young guys to see how to guard that type of player without fouling him. We had several young guys that ended up on him, so it’s a good learning experience for them.”
Barrett and Mitchell were also asked about DeRozan’s game.
“He’s an elite player — elite shot maker,” Barrett said. “We all know that, so he made a couple tough ones. Some of those you expect. That’s part of the reason they brought him here. He’s a closer type of guy, so we’ve got to try to stay down on the shot fakes and stuff, but he was making some shots tonight.”
Mitchell added: “He’s a great scorer. He’s going to hit some tough shots. One of the best scorers in our game today.”
Welcome back
Mitchell, who spent his first three seasons with the Kings, was greeted by many familiar faces as he returned to Sacramento for the first time as a member of the Raptors.
The Kings sent Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov to the Raptors in the trade that brought Jordan McLaughlin to Sacramento. Mitchell is starting for the Raptors as they deal with some early injuries.
The 26-year-old guard and defensive dynamo is averaging 8.8 points, 6.4 assists and 1.1 steals. He had four points, four rebounds, seven assists and five steals in Saturday’s win over the Kings in Toronto.
Asked about Mitchell’s defense before the game, Brown said: “He definitely takes pride in it, so if you have a guy that embraces his super power then that’s the best of both worlds, and he definitely embraces it. He was good for us the years he was here and he’s good for Toronto now.”
Up next
The Kings will conclude a brief two-game homestand when they play host to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
The Clippers (4-4) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 113-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 110-98 on Wednesday.
Kawhi Leonard has yet to suit up this season as he recovers from a right knee injury. Norman Powell leads the Clippers in scoring, averaging 24.9 points per game while shooting 45% from 3-point range on 8.6 attempts per game.
James Harden is averaging 21.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks. Ivica Zubac (17.4 ppg) and Derrick Jones Jr. (10.1 ppg) are also scoring in double figures.
Sacramento Kings schedule
Nov. 8 vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Nov. 10 at Phoenix Suns
Nov. 11 at San Antonio Spurs
Nov. 13 vs. Phoenix Suns
Nov. 15 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 10:03 PM.
