Two groups that discovered themselves on reverse ends of high-scoring affairs Tuesday evening get no break within the schedule when the Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings full back-to-backs with a head-to-head matchup Wednesday evening within the California capital.
Unfazed by the league’s worst 3-point taking pictures proportion getting into the sport (33.6%), the Raptors rode an excellent scoring evening from Immanuel Quickley and 21-for-34 accuracy from deep to race previous the Golden State Warriors 145-127 in San Francisco on Tuesday evening.
Ninety miles to the northeast, the Kings watched the visiting Miami Warmth placed on a long-range taking pictures show, making 21 of 42, in a 130-117 triumph in Sacramento.
Each the Raptors and Kings had been in a position to unfold the minutes slightly extensively on the primary evening of the back-to-back, with Toronto utilizing all 12 obtainable gamers and Sacramento enjoying 10 for at the least 19 minutes every.
Mission completed, Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic famous.
“We’re on the finish of January and we all know what these canine days appear like earlier than the All-Star break,” he expressed to the media in San Francisco. “We’re making an attempt to be very conscientious about minutes and utilization of our guys in these video games earlier than All-Star.”
Three Raptors performed 34 or extra minutes in opposition to the Warriors, largely as a result of they had been placing on an entertaining present.
Quickley matched his profession excessive with 40 factors in 34 minutes, Scottie Barnes chipped in with 26 factors in 39 minutes, and Brandon Ingram had 22 factors to indicate for his 36 minutes because the trio mixed to shoot 31-for-48. Toronto scorched Golden State with 59.3% taking pictures general and 61.8% accuracy on 3-pointers.
Barnes additionally discovered time to dish off a game-high 11 assists in the kind of efficiency that had Rajakovic conjuring up recollections of Wilt Chamberlain.
“Once I look again at NBA historical past and see that Wilt Chamberlain was averaging 48.1 minutes in a single season and enjoying all of the overtimes, I am slightly bit jealous of these previous occasions,” he admitted. “However the recreation is completely different these days, and positively we have now that in thoughts. I am fascinated about Scottie’s utilization fairly a bit.
“I do not know if there’s one other participant within the historical past of the sport that one evening performs level guard, the opposite evening he is a wing, and the fourth evening he is enjoying (middle). Simply not for one or two possessions, nevertheless it’s a predominant function within the recreation, and Scottie’s doing that for us and he is excellent making an attempt to handle all of these completely different roles.”
Apparently, Kings coach Doug Christie discovered himself, after Sacramento’s second straight dwelling loss, defending his choice to maintain one among his high gamers, Zach LaVine, on the bench for 17 of the second half’s 24 minutes.
“We’re looking for a rhythm and discover a group that’s stopping individuals on the identical time,” Christie defined to reporters afterward. “We did not have an issue scoring tonight. We have to cease any individual.”
LaVine completed with 18 factors in 22 minutes. Domantas Sabonis, in his third recreation after a 27-game absence because of a knee harm, obtained simply 17 minutes, protecting the door open for his participation on a second straight evening.
Sabonis had six factors and 10 rebounds in his stint, which was shorter than both of his earlier two comeback video games, when he performed 21 and 20 minutes.
–Discipline Degree Media
