Raptors win an instant classic over Kings
It was an amazing night, wrapped up with an amazing win. The vibes at Scotiabank Arena were high, and it was for a valid reason. Mr. Air Canada himself, Vince Carter, became the first Raptor to have his jersey retired by the organization. Amazing tribute by the Raptors and hopefully it puts an end to Vince Carter the villain in Torontonians’ eyes. Last but not least, a shoutout to Drake for amazing commentary and cracking everyone up.
How fitting for it to be Vince Carter’s jersey retirement night as the Kings and DeRozan were in town. And DeMar had an amazing night, more on that later. Let’s get into the ball game now. The Raptors started out much better against Sacramento compared to the Lakers game but that was a very low bar. Ochai Agbaji got off to a great start as he scored five out of Toronto’s seven points early on. We saw one possession of a 2-3 zone by the Kings which got abandoned right away after a Gradey Dick three-pointer. Chris Boucher and Jamison Battle also gave great pop instantly as they combined for 18 points at the end of the first and were leading the team in scoring.
Malik Monk had a game as he was the main driving force for the Kings early on. During the second quarter, he made a couple of impressive stepback jumpers in the corner. It was a night where both teams were letting the three ball fly as Sacramento made 10 out of 40 while the Raptors shot an impressive 17 for 37 beyond the arc. The ball security was amazing for the Raptors in the opening quarter, but it started getting sloppy again in the second quarter. A horrible closeout to the second quarter made it a three-point lead going into half for Toronto.
The halftime break was a long one due to Carter’s ceremony and it started showing on the court. Both teams were labouring to start but Ochai had an amazing restart to the game as he scored the Raptors first six points in the half. It was deja vu of the first quarter as Boucher was once again great in the quarter too. The Raptors showed great pace on the fast break in this one, their best game pushing the ball so far this season.
The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth just like the rest of the game and the Raptors lost a double-digit lead in the blink of an eye. RJ Barrett and Gradey Dick were amazing for Toronto down the stretch and DeMar DeRozan was doing everything in his power to keep the Kings in the game. He brought Sacramento all the way back, but it was Domantas Sabonis’ tipped shot off a DeRozan miss that tied it all up and gave the fans free basketball.
Once again in the final minutes of the game, Gradey Dick was amazing on both sides of the ball, as he created a loose ball guarding a shifty De’Aaron Fox that led to an RJ and one. DeRozan was once again making clutch shot after clutch shot as the game seemed over but he was not letting the Kings go away. The game ended in controversy as RJ Barrett missed two free throws which would have put the game out of reach but it gave Sacramento a chance to extend the game into double overtime. De’Aaron Fox air-balled the final shot of the game and the Kings were furious, as they argued with the refs that the ball was tipped off of a Raptors player, but it looked like a clean miss from the Kings star.
A crazy game which light up the Scotiabank Arena. It was reminiscent of the golden Air Canada Center days when the Raptors first made it back into the playoffs back in the 2013/14 season. And it was only right that Toronto won on Vince Carter’s special night.
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