The Sacramento Kings, winners of three straight games, are in Toronto tonight to face a Raptors team plagued by injuries and young, inexperienced players. Gone are the Van Vleets and Siakams, the Kyle Lowrys and Kawhis, and in their place: youth. Endless, limitless youth. Well, and somehow, Garrett Temple. With Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and Bruce Brown injured and RJ Barrett barely on the injured list, Toronto is playing undermanned, inexperienced and somewhat shaky basketball… and if I learned anything from the Jurassic Park movies: It is that the players are young, stupid and injured. Birds of prey have always been the most dangerous.

Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: Saturday, November 2nd, 4:30pm PST
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON
TV: NBCSCA – Kyle Draper (play-by-play)
radio: Sactown Sports 1140am

For your consideration

Day of the Dead (stories): Slowly but surely, the Kings are finding their footing and finding new ways to get wins against teams that would certainly have had such numbers in years past. Last night against the Hawks was a prime example: after controlling and coming up big for most of the game, they allowed the Hawks to get back into a tie game less than halfway through the fourth period. In previous years, the Kings folded like wet cardboard. Over the past few years, Garrison Mathews has become a hero for one night and a villain for years to come in the back of our collective brains, stuck in the pantheon of so many other accidental Kings killers. Instead, the Kings went pretty calmly down the court, rattling off eight straight plays and the momentum was immediately dissipated. The game did get closer again, but the victory never felt like it was slipping away. Even when Sabonis left, I never had that tingle of fear running down my spine: “Oh my God, they’re really going to lose this thing.” Attribute that to the calming presence of DeMar DeRozan and the fact that the Kings have six incredible weapons for instant attack… There’s nothing like regaining a little confidence from the fans by winning three in a row against weaker teams.

And now about tonight: As mentioned, the Raptors’ restart is throwing out all the youngsters today, folks. Sure, they have a Garrett Temple and Kelly Olynyk on the shelf, but we’re looking at a roster that, even when healthy, produces ten players with five seasons or less of NBA experience. Their most consistent player through six games is Gradey Dick, who averaged just under 21 points per game last year after a terrible rookie season earlier this season. Now, mind you, RJ Barrett became famous for averaging 28 points, 7.7 assists, and shooting nearly 53% from distance on nearly six attempts per night in his three games back from injury… so that development could be the one Calculation for Gradey change a bit. Still, in my eyes, even RJ is hardly an established vet. If you’re sweating over former King Davion Mitchell and the season he had to start with Immanuel Quickley’s injury, then in my opinion he’s doing Davion things. 8.8 points, 6.0 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. Certainly not the Defensive Player of the Year that radio announcers praised him as before his rookie season in Sacramento, but six games into your career as a starter, hey, who is he?

Overall, this team feels like a different team, too young and too stupid to know they should lose, and I mean that as a compliment. They attempt fewer threes than anyone in the league and are the fourth-worst team in the NBA at making them, averaging just 31.5% from deep as a team. But their third in the NBA in offensive rebounding, second in the NBA in assists and third in the NBA in blocks, which tells me they’re getting behind on both ends, they just can’t quite execute yet. Further evidence of this is the fact that they rank third in the league in turning the ball over and fouling, and second most in the NBA. So they’re a little too eager to make plays and haven’t focused on the old points yet. disciplinary aspect of things. The Raptors won’t be a tough opponent until the Kings decide to be one.

The little stuff

Baby dinosaurs: I saw someone point this out on Twitter last night: If you combine all ten players the Raptors used against the Los Angeles Lakers last night and all of their regular season and playoff games, LeBron James outscores them by about thirty games . This isn’t a surprising compliment to a Laker in a Raptors preview, it’s a testament to the youth movement the Raptors are finally getting a full handle on and how many injuries the Raptors have suffered in the wake of their veterans. a rather stupid way of looking at things.

Vinsane in the membrane: Man, I know Vince played for a variety of teams in the final years of his career and that his one season in Sacramento wasn’t the success he deserved at the end of a Hall of Fame run, but I’m with you Right so I’m pleased the powers that be have chosen the Kings as the team that will be in the arena when their jersey is retired. Even though he was 40 years old and tied up and way too good for a franchise like the Kings at this point, he was always a bright spot and is easily my favorite single-season wonder when it comes to Kings players. I hope it’s emotional, I hope the Toronto crowd goes wild, and I hope the Kings take the ever-present piss out of the Raptors before he and Fox get a chance to join in on camera after the final buzzer. I’m glad Toronto was able to make this happen despite the difficult split so many years ago. Both the icon and the city deserve this.

forecast

Gradey Dick is the leading scorer for Toronto tonight and there are far too many jokes being made at his expense on Twitter. Davion Mitchell plays tough defense and makes a nice heads-up offensive play or two, but Fox was in complete control of the game all night long. Jonathan Mogbo gives Keegan and Domas a headache in the post, but the Kings fight back on fourth down against the struggling Raptors (Scraptors?).

Kings: 116 Raptors: 101