Gay, Cousins guide Kings past Raptors
TORONTO -- Rudy Gay scored 23 points, including two free throws with 1:54 left in the game, and the Sacramento Kings ended a four-game losing streak with a 96-91 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
DeMarcus Cousins added 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Kings, who won the final game of their five-game road trip and ended Toronto's three-game winning streak.
Kosta Koufos added 13 points and Arron Afflalo had 12.
After Toronto's DeMar DeRozan missed two free throws with 2:14 to play, Gay made two free throws and the Kings led 92-88. Ty Lawson added two free throws to give the Kings a six-point lead with 26.6 seconds left.
Gay made one of two free throws with 17.8 seconds left before Kyle Lowry hit a 3-pointer for Toronto with 12 seconds to go to get the Raptors within four.
DeRozan had 23 points to end his streak of 30 or more at five games. Lowry added 15 points and 10 assists for Toronto while Pascal Siakam had 10.
DeRozan's string of 30 or more points in a club-record five straight games also made him the first player to do that to open a season since Michael Jordan in 1986. Jordan extended his streak to six games with 30 or more.
The Kings were coming off a 117-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, while the Raptors had the day off after defeating the Miami Heat 96-87 on Friday.
Center Jonas Valanciunas was a late scratch for Toronto because of bruised knee.
Toronto opened a 10-point first-quarter lead but needed a fadeaway jumper by Cory Joseph just before the buzzer to take a 23-20 lead. DeRozan had eight points in the first quarter.
The Raptors scored the first seven points of the second quarter to regain their 10-point edge and were up by as many as 11 in the quarter. They settled for a 50-44 lead at halftime after Joseph's 3-pointer beat the buzzer.
DeRozan led all scorers with 12 first-half points. Cousins had 10 for the Kings.
DeRozan opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and had Toronto's first five points of the second half.
Lawson made two free throws with 4:09 to play in the third quarter and Sacramento cut the Raptors lead to 60-59. A pair of free throws by DeRozan had the lead at five with 3:09 left in the quarter.
Cousins made a reverse dunk for the Kings to tie the game at 64 with 1:55 left in the third. Gay gave Sacramento a two-point lead with a reverse layup.
Joseph tied the game when he made two free throws but Kings forward Matt Barnes made two free throws with 9.7 seconds left and Sacramento took a 68-66 lead after three quarters.
Lucas Nogueira tied the game with a fast-break dunk to open the fourth quarter before Sacramento went up by four.
The Raptors regained the lead at 73-72 when Lowry made a layup after a steal and added the free throw.
Cousins made one of two free throws with 6:12 to play to tie the game at 79.
Gay hit a 3-pointer with 5:22 to play to give Sacramento an 84-81 lead. Lowry's 3-pointer cut the lead to 87-86 with 4:28 left and DeRozan gave Toronto a one-point lead with a 15-foot turnaround jumper.
Barnes made one of two free throws to tie the game Cousins gave Sacramento the lead with 2:55 left on a driving layup.
NOTES: Kings F Anthony Tolliver (right knee contusion) did not play. Kings F Rudy Gay (strained rib cartilage), who sat out Saturday in Milwaukee, started in Toronto. Tolliver missed his third straight game. ... Sacramento swept the two-game season series with Toronto last season. The teams meet for the second time this season on Nov. 20 in Sacramento. ...The Raptors have won at least four of their first five games for three consecutive seasons, including a 5-0 start in 2015-16, and are 13-2 in that stretch. ... The Raptors play their next game on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. ... The Kings ended a five-game road trip Sunday and return home to play the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday at Golden 1 Center. ... Raptors C Jonas Valanciunas (left knee contusion) was a late scratch Sunday.