After losing two games in a row on the road to the Orlando Magic, the Toronto Raptors will be out to make amends Wednesday night against the visiting Sacramento Kings.
“I know that a lot of people do hit that panic button real quick,” said Pascal Siakam, who scored 36 and 19 points in the losses at Orlando. “There’s no finger pointing. We’re all in this together. No matter what’s happening, those guys in here, I love them and I want everyone to succeed, I want us to succeed as a team. I think we’ve all got to do it together. Everyone’s in this together and we’ve gotta get out of it together.”
The Raptors have played better at home, where they are 10-3 this season. They will be catching the Kings on the second half of a back-to-back.
The Kings lost 123-103 to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday and have dropped three of the first four games of a six-game road trip.
The Raptors had hoped for better results against the Magic, who lost 121-108 at Toronto on Dec. 3 and have one of the worst records in the league.
“It’s three components there, right, the 3-point shooting, the defense creating offense and the offensive rebounding,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I just didn’t think we didn’t shot-make or offensive rebound down in Orlando this week.
“The defense wasn’t that bad. We did create, and we tried really hard. We played really tough. We created a lot of turnovers. And probably two of the three didn’t let us get over the hump, right?”
The Raptors shot 40 percent overall (30-for-75) and 24 percent (6-for-25) from 3-point range on Sunday in losing 111-99 to Orlando.
“I think the defense looks amazing at times and then not so good at times,” Nurse said. “A little bit of inconsistency, a little bit of maturity needed to get that a little bit more consistently.”
At Philadelphia on Tuesday, the Kings trailed 80-55 at halftime.
“The NBA year and grind is really hard, and we’re going to have to experience the downs like we have ups in this short time together,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We had a ton of breakdowns; we didn’t come help on any drives.”
After missing two games with a sore foot, De’Aaron Fox returned to the Kings’ lineup on Tuesday and scored 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting, including 1-for-7 from deep.
Domantas Sabonis led the Kings with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Malik Monk had 16 points off the bench.
The Kings did outscore the 76ers 48-43 in the second half, but the game was beyond reach.
“They don’t have the quit (in them),” Brown said. “Guys could have easily rolled out and quit in the second half, but we tried to fight to get back into the game.”
After visiting Toronto, the Kings end their road trip against the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
“We hit a little adversity here, but how are we going to respond?” Brown said. “The challenge is in front of us, and I expect our guys to accept it.”
–Field Level Media
