There’s a very good chance that Sacramento Kings star Domantas Sabonis heard about the trade that sent former Raptors forwards OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa to the New York Knicks last week, looked at his own schedule and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Last season, the Kings were the most prolific offensive team in the NBA and their 119.4 offensive rating was the highest ever recorded. Sabonis – the Kings’ multi-skilled centre – was a major reason why as he averaged 19.1 points, a league-leading 12.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists while converting 61.5 per cent of his field goal chances. The upstart Kings finished third in the Western Conference and snapped an NBA record 16-season playoff drought and Sabonis was both an all-star and all-NBA selection as a result.
But you know what team was Sabonis’ kryptonite last season?
That’s right, the Toronto Raptors. In two games against the Raptors, he averaged just 15 points and five assists and committed 14 turnovers. In particular, Sabonis struggled the last time the two teams met – in January last season – as he had nine turnovers and nine points and the Kings lost by 18 points. It was his worst game of the season and. Anunoby – well on his way to making his first all-NBA defensive team selection – was a big reason why.
There are plenty of reasons to like the deal that sent Anunoby, Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn to the New York Knicks for Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, two young players who should be fixtures for the Raptors for years to come. Anunoby, meanwhile, was unlikely to re-sign with the Raptors as a pending free agent.
But you have to give up something to get something, and as the Kings – and Sabonis in particular – demonstrated on Friday night, he Raptors gave up some significant size and defensive acumen.
You can argue whether that’s exactly why the Raptors gave up 21 threes to the Kings (on 38 attempts). But it was the largest single factor in what was a hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful effort that ended up a 135-130 loss that snapped the Raptors’ modest winning streak at two as they head to San Francisco to continue their six-game, west coast swing against the Golden State on Sunday. The Raptors fell to 14-21 while the Kings improved to 21-13.
The Raptors stormed back from down 20 at half and down 10 to start the fourth quarter and got as close as two with 2:38 to play on a Quickley triple and had it to three with 42 seconds left on a lay-up by the Raptors guard,, but couldn’t get completely over the hump. The game ended with a long heave from three by Quickley ending up well off the mark.
Sabonis finished with a triple double – 24 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists – before fouling out with 1:10 to play.
The Raptors had eight players in double figures, led by Quickley and Scottie Barnes with 20 each, but couldn’t overcome the Kings shooting 21-of-38 from three to Toronto’s 13-of-37.
Sabonis put his stamp on the game in the first quarter when he scored 12 points on seven shots. There was a fastbreak ‘Euro-step’, a post-up over an over-matched Barrett, a nice finish out of a pick-and-roll and a putback after an offensive rebound where he simply overwhelmed Jontay Porter, the Raptors’ two-way player who is the Raptors’ backup centre at the moment. Sabonis looked comfortable, running the Kings offence as the hub of a well-greased wheel, with Sacramento jumping out to a 36-27 first quarter lead.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic knew what was coming. The Kings might not be leading the NBA in offensive efficiency this season – they’re middle of the pack for now, which is where 116.6 points per 100 possessions lands you as offences surge league-wide – but they’re still a formidable machine, capable of spreading defences out and leaving them helpless, and Sabonis is still orchestrating everything.
“This team is the third fastest team this season in the NBA and for years, they’ve been one of the fastest teams,” said Rajakovic.
“That trade whenever they got Sabonis [at the trade deadline in 2021-22] really helped them to establish connectivity and pace but also signing great shooters and bringing great shooters on to the team just opened up a lot of space for them.
“I think always when you play against teams that play with that type of pace and force, there is that first shock in the game,” said Rajakovic. “We talked about it a lot, we cannot allow them to run, and we have to be physical from the start of the game and just make them a halfcourt team as much as possible and then deal with their three-point shooting. “
Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. After Sabonis dominated the Raptors in the paint in the first quarter, he showed how – when given time and space – he can eviscerate a team with his passing.
The Raptors were trailing by just four points with 5:45 left in the second quarter when Sabonis really started carving them up. He found Davion Mitchell and Malik Monk on cuts for lay-ups and then Keegan Murray and Monk for threes. They were the backbone of a 25-9 run the Kings finished the half with that gave them a 77-57 lead to start the third quarter.
It was tied for the most points the Raptors have given up in a half this season and tied for the sixth most surrendered in any half in franchise history. That the Kings hit a remarkable 14-of-26 from deep in the first two quarters was a big factor – the Raptors were just 5-of-17 – but that Sabonis was able to roam so comfortably was a big reason so many Kings shooters were so open so often. Sabonis had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 18 first-half minutes.
Who will replace Anunoby as the Raptors’ go-to stopper is an open question, perhaps an even more urgent one given that Achiuwa was often the next on the list for those types of assignments and had one of his best games of last season against Sabonis and the Kings at the Golden 1 Center.
Rajakovic is hopeful that Barrett can pick up some of that slack in certain matchups. “I had a conversation today with RJ and I think he has a lot of potential to be really good defensive player,” he said. “I think he has length but also he has a pretty good feel where to be on the court and how to rotate and what to do … there is things that we can work on and improve on, but I see a lot of defensive potential with him.”
But the reality is that it’s nearly impossible to replace the defensive versatility that Anunoby (and Achiuwa) could provide. The Raptors got some traction in the third quarter, but they did so with offence, outscoring the Kings 40-30 in the period and cutting Sacramento’s lead to 10 to start the fourth quarter.
The Raptors were able to tighten things up in the fourth quarter, mainly with each man guarding their own with enough added intensity that the Kings couldn’t get them into rotations over and over again, which is where they generated so many open threes in the first half. Rajakovic played Chris Boucher for extended minutes off the bench and got some energizing minutes from Dennis Schroder, who led the bench with 18 points.
But the Raptors gave up too much, too easily, too soon, and paid for it.
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