Raptors at Kings
Sacramento Kings coach Dave Joerger needed 13 regular season games with his new team before deciding that his best lineup was DeMarcus Cousins and four smaller, quicker players. The Kings will unveil the new lineup when they host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
Sacramento fell behind by 26 points on Friday and was down 19 entering the fourth quarter before rallying to pull within two points of the Los Angeles Clippers with a small lineup that featured Cousins at center, Rudy Gay at power forward, Arron Afflalo on the wing and two point guards in Darren Collison and Ty Lawson. "I’ve seen enough,” Joerger told reporters. "We’re going to play small. DeMarcus is going to play center. I don’t know who else will play with him. It just gives us more zip, more life, more experience. That’s not any detriment to anyone else or what they’ve done." Most of the NBA already embraced the small-ball revolution, at least as a spark during games, and the Raptors can match up with Jonas Valanciunas at center surrounded by DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Terrence Ross and DeMarre Carroll or Patrick Patterson. Toronto narrowly avoided a three-game slide with a 113-111 overtime win at Denver on Friday that kicked off a five-game road trip.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One (Toronto), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (8-4): Toronto faced the toughest back-to-back in the league with a loss at Cleveland on Tuesday followed by a loss to the Golden State Warriors at home on Wednesday while allowing an average of 124 points. The Raptors held four of their first six opponents under 100 points but surrendered an average of 113.2 in the last six contests. "We lost our defensive mentality," coach Dwane Casey told reporters after Friday's win. "We started the game with it, got away from it, got back to it back near the end. We’ve got to understand it’s a 48-minute grind. We’ve got to make sure we maintain that mentality for 48 minutes."
ABOUT THE KINGS (4-9): Cousins echoed the same sentiments as Casey as he implored his team to play with as much effort at the beginning of games as it shows at the end. "Once again we’re waiting until the last minute to play with energy, with a sense of urgency, play with some pride, play with some heart," Cousins told reporters after Friday's 121-115 setback to the Clippers. "It’s all fun, it’s exciting in the end, you feel like we’re playing great and making the right steps but these games are only going to continue to get harder for us if we wait until the last quarter or second half to try to make a push." Cousins finished with 38 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in the loss.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Kings' best defensive performance came in a 96-91 win at Toronto on Nov. 6, which marked their third straight victory in the series.
2. Toronto C Lucas Nogueira is expected to join the team on Sunday after missing Friday's game for the birth of his daughter.
3. Collison is averaging 15.3 points on 20-of-34 shooting in the last three games.