Raptors Bury Kings With 17 3-Pointers
By IAN HARRISON
Associated Press
The Sacramento Kings made it out of New York this week before getting buried by a snowstorm.
But after arriving north of the border, the Toronto Raptors buried them instead.
Lou Williams scored 27 points and the Raptors made a season-high 17 3-pointers in a 119-102 victory over the slumping Kings on Wednesday night.
Toronto turned the game in its favor with a 29-10 spurt to end the third quarter after Kings center DeMarcus Cousins went to the bench with four fouls.
"We had a chance to stop the bleeding, we didn't and they ran off with the game," a downcast Cousins said.
Rudy Gay scored 22 points, Ben McLemore had 17 and Cousins 13 for the Kings, whose season-long losing streak reached seven games.
"Whichever team decided to be the first team to play defense was going to win the game and they decided to play defense first," Cousins said. "That's the story."
Kings forward Carl Landry returned after missing five games with a sprained right wrist and finished with 14 points in 23 minutes.
Toronto was playing the second game of a back-to-back while the Kings were coming off a four-day break, brought on by the postponement of Monday's game against the Knicks in New York in anticipation of the snowstorm.
After flying in from New York on Monday evening, getting out ahead of the snow, the Kings practiced in the Raptors' practice facility at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.
The Raptors, meanwhile, arrived home late Tuesday night after beating the Pacers in Indianapolis. Toronto improved to 7-2 in the second game of back-to-backs.
Greivis Vasquez scored 18 and Jonas Valanciunas had 15 for the Raptors, who won their fourth straight. It's Toronto's longest streak since a six-game run in December.
"We want to continue this winning streak and then continue to get better," Vasquez said.
He and Williams each made four 3-pointers for Toronto, which finished 17 for 34 from long range. Seven different Raptors made at least one 3.
"We played like a winning team in the second half, a team that's on a mission," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
Cousins has a mission for his Kings teammates: improve your defense.
"Take pride in playing one-on-one defense, that'll solve a lot of problems," he said.
Toronto made 15 3-pointers in a 124-82 home win over Milwaukee on Nov. 21. They had that many through three quarters against the Kings before Williams drained a 3 from the corner to start the fourth.
"They're playing with a lot of confidence and they're talented guys," Kings coach Tyrone Corbin said of Toronto.
Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross both had 13 for the Raptors.
TIP-INS
Kings: Sacramento missed its first six field goal attempts. ... In his first professional game in Toronto, Canadian rookie Nik Stauskas said he was expecting "a couple hundred" friends and family to attend. ... Coach Tyrone Corbin played in 15 games for the Raptors in the 2000-2001 season. Assistant coaches Dee Brown and Corliss Williamson also played for Toronto.
Raptors: Toronto wore camouflage jerseys at it marked Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Night. ... The Raptors are 72-37 since trading Gay to Sacramento on Dec. 9, 2013, the best record in the Eastern Conference over that span.
NOT HIS NIGHT
Cousins came in averaging 26.4 points and 13.9 rebounds in his previous seven games but had only four rebounds and made nine turnovers against Toronto. "He didn't play like the DeMarcus of norm that everybody is accustomed to seeing," Toronto's DeMar DeRozan said. "We got him in foul trouble and it was really helpful for us."
PALACE COUP
The Raptors won for the ninth time in their past 10 home meetings with the Kings and swept the season series against Sacramento for just the second time in their 20-year history. They also did it in the 2008-09 season.
UP NEXT
Kings: Visit Cavaliers on Friday night.
Raptors: Visit Nets on Friday night.
