Kings at Raptors game-day Dino-bytes

Our post-shootaround update for Friday night’s Raptors-Kings game.

 

SACRAMENTO at TORONTO

Air Canada Centre

TIPOFF: 7 p.m.

TV: TSN; RADIO: FAN590

WEB: Join The Star’s Doug Smith for an in-game blog beginning shortly before 7 p.m.

 

Probable starters

Sacramento: Isaiah Thomas, John Salmons, Francisco Garcia, Jason Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins; Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Mickael Pietrus, Ed Davis, Aaron Gray.

 

Key backups tonight

Sacramento: James Johnson (ex-Raptor may want to prove something), Jimmer Fredette (is he going to live up to the billing?); Toronto: Terrence Ross (comes in off best game of the season), Kyle Lowry (will he be more of a scorer tonight).

 

Season series

Kings lead, 1-0

Sacramento got two late three-pointers to stave off a Raptors rally to register a 107-100 win last month that was part of Toronto’s 0-fer western road trip.

All-time, Toronto is 12-20 vs. Kings, 10-6 at the Air Canada Centre and lost last meeting between the teams here.

 

What happened this morning

Crickets

I took the morning off because it’s been a long week and you need to get idle time when you can. And since nothing would have changed between Thursday afternoon’s practice and Friday morning’s shootaround, it made even more sense.

Only newsy item is that since Linas Kleiza didn’t practice Thursday, it’s unlikely he’ll be around tonight. May dress but unlikely to contribute much.

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Esoteric stat, Part 1

Toronto is averaging 25.8 assists (second in the NBA) and 10.8 turnovers (first in the NBA) in its last 10 games.

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Not road warriors

Sacramento is 1-13 on the road this season but comes in riding the crest of a one-game winning streak. They beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Wednesday night; Kings are also playing their third road game in four nights and go on to Brooklyn for a contest Saturday.

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Esoteric stat, Part 2

The Raptors have had consecutive games with at least 30 assists per game – 33 in Orlando last Saturday and 34 against Portland on Wednesday. The last time a Toronto team had three games of 30-plus assists was March 31-April 3, 2010.

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Familiar face

Alex English will play the role of former Raptors coach coming back tonight. He’s been on Keith Smart’s staff in Sacramento for a year or so.

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Men in charge

Zach Zarba, David Guthrie and Kevin Scott will be blowing the whistles tonight; Raptors still haven’t seen David Jones since the infamous Amir Johnson Mouthguard Toss out in Portland.

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The other view

Here's what showed up in this morning's Sacramento Bee.

 

 

Comments

[Mike B]

Doug,

Raps are on TSN tonight.

Cheers.

Blogger's note: Fixed; thanks