Raptors recover to strong-arm Kings’ zone, pull off road win
Just over two minutes into the game, Brandon Ingram caught while flaring to the wing and splashed a triple over the Sacramento Kings’ zone defence.
But that didn’t dissuade the Kings. They stayed in the zone. It wasn’t a little zone. It was a lot of zone. I don’t have synergy, so I don’t know if the Raptors get zoned more than any other team in the NBA, but it sure feels like it. By the numbers, NBA teams perform worse against zone than they do against man. But the Raptors are not “teams.” Whatever energy was left over from Tuesday’s record-breaking performance was sapped quickly.
After struggling against the zone in the first half, the Raptors ultimately solved it in the third, more with force than craft. Scottie Barnes took control of the middle and scored 14 of his tied team-high 23 points as Toronto won the quarter 43-21, and the game 122-109. Ever the stat-sheet stuffer, Barnes added eight boards, seven assists and five stocks.
On the second night of a back-to-back, the Raptors initially picked up where they left off, coming out guns blazing.
Brandon Ingram did the offensive work to start, looking languid as possible while doing so. He methodically drew help and passed out to Sandro Mamukelashvili for a 3, drove and banged a pull-up over Precious Achiuwa, and caught off the aforementioned flare for a 3. Ingram matched Barnes, scoring his 23 points on 15 shots in the game.
Both sides found success with flare screens; Zach LaVine got loose and beelined to the rim for a two-handed slam. Jamison Battle flared and hit – it seemed to be the Raptors’ only recourse against the Kings’ zone early. Sacramento persisted for almost the entire first half. Then for almost the entire game.
It successfully gummed up Toronto’s offence once again, and LaVine let it sing from 3, pulling Sacramento ahead. A couple of ex-Raps, Dennis Schroder and Achiuwa connected on a laydown and two-handed punch, cuing a Toronto timeout. Malik Monk made a banked 3 to end the first quarter after Jamal Shead failed to manage the clock on what should’ve been the final possession.
The zone stuck around. Toronto tried to back-cut it, to mixed results, meanwhile Sacramento bombed away from deep. Then it was an all-out shootout. Ingram, Mamu and Gradey Dick all made and missed. Monk went stupid, boogying into a deep pull, going behind the back and rocking the rim in transition. Russell Westbrook started carving up the Raptors’ defence. He drove for a lefty finish then hit a spin move on Shead and tossed a lob. Rookie Dylan Cardwell was on the receiving end and shot webs like Spidey to celebrate after throwing it down. The Raptors were stuck nine at half.
The Kings allow the highest rim field goal percentage in the league at 73 percent. So it wasn’t great that the Raptors were shooting 54 percent at the hoop (12th percentile) to start the second half.
I just wrote a piece about the Raptors succeeding with unconventional centres. The bigs featured in this game pushed into even wackier territory with Jakob Poeltl and Collin Murray-Boyles out for the Raptors and Domantas Sabonis out for the Kings.
Despite both frontcourts being hobbled, it was the big forwards that took over in the third.
Mamu plowed through the zone and threw up a prayer scoop that went. Then he canned a triple. The Georgian big finished with 22 points on 14 shots to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. Achiuwa big brothered the Raptors, skying for an offensive rebound and going back up strong for a putback dunk.
The injuries have left Mamukelashvili, a centre who’s below average at what’s expected from the position, but shoots and drives the ball well, and Jonathan Mogbo, who had played only 109 minutes this season prior to the game. Banging around with them in the paint were Kings rookies Maxime Reynaud and Cardwell. Of course, Barnes accepts responsibility here too.
And accept it he did. The burly star put his head down and took it right to the hellbound heart of the Kings’ zone labyrinth. Back-to-back takes into the teeth for layups.
Even though the Kings’ zone didn’t relent, the Raptors really started to pound the middle and the shot making came around with it. Shead hit three triples in the third and the Raptors outscored the Kings by 22.
After being quiet all game, DeMar DeRozan worked the baseline with his signature moves, pump faking for free throws and canning middies to keep the score close.
Another way to beat the zone is not letting it get set, and the Raptors put their foot on the gas in the fourth and capitalized on the runouts generated by their hustle. When LaVine put a stop to it with a driving finger roll, Mamu immediately got free off 77 shallow for dunk.
It got dicey down the stretch. LaVine kept getting to the rim. The Kings were still in zone. Ingram came off the option-screen play and swished a middy. Barnes got to the line. That made it a 12-point lead with two minutes left. Toronto’s stars took them home (for a West Coast road win).
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reported Wednesday that Jakob Poeltl went back to Toronto to see a specialist, with an update expected Thursday (that’s today!) Murray-Boyles is day-to-day with the thumb sprain and RJ Barrett and Ja’Kobe Walter are expected back on the road trip, either Friday in Portland or Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Barnes has acted as a superhero of sorts for the Raptors on defence, but he can’t do it all, and the Raptors’ backline was far too soft against the Kings’ bevy of drives. Reinforcements appear to be on the way, but the ones needed most – Murray-Boyles and Poeltl – seem the furthest away. An accelerated return from the Raptors’ grown man of a rookie would bode well against the jumbo lineups in the Trail Blazers and Thunder can offer.
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