Two teams that found themselves on opposite ends of high-scoring affairs Tuesday night get no break in the schedule when the Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings complete back-to-backs with a head-to-head matchup Wednesday night in the California capital.
Unfazed by the league’s worst 3-point shooting percentage entering the game (33.6%), the Raptors rode a brilliant scoring night from Immanuel Quickley and 21-for-34 accuracy from deep to race past the Golden State Warriors 145-127 in San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Ninety miles to the northeast, the Kings watched the visiting Miami Heat put on a long-range shooting display, making 21 of 42, in a 130-117 triumph in Sacramento.
Both the Raptors and Kings were able to spread the minutes rather widely on the first night of the back-to-back, with Toronto using all 12 available players and Sacramento playing 10 for at least 19 minutes each.
Mission accomplished, Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic noted.
“We are at the end of January and we know what those dog days look like before the All-Star break,” he expressed to the media in San Francisco. “We’re trying to be very conscientious about minutes and usage of our guys in those games before All-Star.”
Three Raptors played 34 or more minutes against the Warriors, in large part because they were putting on an entertaining show.
Quickley matched his career high with 40 points in 34 minutes, Scottie Barnes chipped in with 26 points in 39 minutes, and Brandon Ingram had 22 points to show for his 36 minutes as the trio combined to shoot 31-for-48. Toronto scorched Golden State with 59.3% shooting overall and 61.8% accuracy on 3-pointers.
Barnes also found time to dish off a game-high 11 assists in the type of performance that had Rajakovic conjuring up memories of Wilt Chamberlain.
“When I look back at NBA history and see that Wilt Chamberlain was averaging 48.1 minutes in one season and playing all the overtimes, I’m a little bit jealous of those old times,” he admitted. “But the game is different nowadays, and definitely we have that in mind. I’m thinking about Scottie’s usage quite a bit.
“I don’t know if there’s another player in the history of the game that one night plays point guard, the other night he’s a wing, and the fourth night he’s playing (center). Just not for one or two possessions, but it’s a main role in the game, and Scottie’s doing that for us and he’s outstanding trying to manage all of those different roles.”
Interestingly, Kings coach Doug Christie found himself, after Sacramento’s second straight home loss, defending his decision to keep one of his top players, Zach LaVine, on the bench for 17 of the second half’s 24 minutes.
“We’re trying to find a rhythm and find a group that is stopping people at the same time,” Christie explained to reporters afterward. “We didn’t have a problem scoring tonight. We need to stop somebody.”
LaVine finished with 18 points in 22 minutes. Domantas Sabonis, in his third game after a 27-game absence due to a knee injury, got just 17 minutes, keeping the door open for his participation on a second straight night.
Sabonis had six points and 10 rebounds in his stint, which was shorter than either of his previous two comeback games, when he played 21 and 20 minutes.
