Raptors’ tough times continue in fourth-quarter lapse to Kings

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Fred VanVleet didn’t need to dip into his Twitter mentions to know his name was mud among the overzealous Raptors fanbase.

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Following a second attention-getting loss to the Orlando Magic on Sunday, VanVleet did his best to calm the troubled waters.

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His message was blunt. Yes, all the Raptors needed to do more and it started with himself. VanVleet, like many of his teammates, was not shooting the ball with the kind of success the fanbase had become accustomed to and he wanted to make sure everyone knew he knew that as well.

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He all but promised it wouldn’t last and for the most part it didn’t as VanVleet put up a season-best 39 points.

The problem was the Kings had a few more locked-in shooters on the night than the Raptors and when VanVleet returned from his normal start-of the-fourth-quarter rest with about seven minutes left in the game, he did so facing a deficit.

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VanVleet’s next four shots all missed as he tried to will the team back into the lead.

When Pascal Siakam went cold as well down the stretch, the Kings took advantage and wound up winning this one 124-123.

It was the sixth loss in the past eight games.

At times the defence looked much better. At times the shooting, with the exception of the three-ball, looked better too.

But as has been the case during these recent struggles those brief flashes of improvement were offset by longer stretches of inconsistency leading to yet another loss.

Leading the way for the Kings was point guard De’Aaron Fox who had 27, but right behind him was a 24-point effort from Malik Monk off the bench. All four other starters were also into double digits in scoring.

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Toronto had three other players in double-figures besides VanVleet.

Monk single-handedly outscored the Raptors bench collectively by three points.

DEFENCE ALWAYS IN VOGUE

Throughout the Raptors’ struggles Nick Nurse has remained adamant that the return to solid, consistent basketball lay in the team’s defence.

That message seemed to strike a chord with the Raptors Wednesday night, locked in defensively from the get-go.

Raptors defenders were flying out to contest shots on the perimeter after packing the paint and leaving would be drivers no choice but to kick it out and hope for a better shot from the outside.

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Through a half, that hard work was paying off with the Kings shooting just under 44% while the Raptors were hitting at a 49% clip.

The only reason the game was as close as it was once again the Raptors inability to hit from beyond the three-point line.

A team-wide slump from three remained a huge concern through the first half where the Raps were good on just three of 13 attempts while the visiting Kings were marginally better making 8-of-25.

That 15-point swing was enough to keep the Kings in a game they were being outplayed in for the most part.

VanVleet, the unquestioned leader on this team and a guy putting pressure on himself to help the Raptors get out of their collective funk, continued to struggle from three in the half, making just one of his four attempts but from the field he was a solid 8-for-15 and led the Raps with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

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WIN WHAT YOU CAN

The possession battle is always an important one to win but even more important when the shots aren’t falling like they are right now.

A team life and death to score the basketball need as many opportunities as possible.

On that front the Raptors were doing everything they could.

For just the second time in franchise history they got through the first half without committing a turnover. The only other time in team history came seven years ago in a game against Brooklyn.

While protecting their own, the Raptors were still digging in at the opposition and creating some for themselves.

In the half Toronto turned Sacramento over eight times for 10 points, off-setting some of that three-point edge the Kings had.

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FIRED UP

Kings head coach Mike Brown didn’t make it to the end of this one.

The normally calm and cool Brown had to be held back going after officials when his point guard Fox was whistled for a technical early in the third quarter.

Brown was on his way to the referee who made the call to argue when he was hit by a technical of his own, further infuriating the Kings’ bench boss who then got a second and with it an ejection.

EX-RAPTOR RETURNS

Former Raptor Terrence Davis got the start in place of Kevin Huerter who is out with a sore ankle and delivered, giving the Kings 19 points and a real boost in the three-point game where he was 5-for-12 from distance.

The Raptors and Davis never really rekindled after the latter was brought up on third degree assault charges in a New York incident with a girlfriend following the 2020 season.

The charges, a total of seven of them, were eventually dropped but Davis and the Raptors parted ways when he was dealt to Sacramento for a second round pick at the 2021 trade deadline.

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