DeMar DeRozan has been a valuable addition to the Kings, and he’ll have another chance to show why on Saturday night when Sacramento visits his former team, the Toronto Raptors.
DeRozan scored 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds Friday night in the Kings’ 123-115 road win over the Atlanta Hawks.
The Kings have won the first two games of a four-game road trip and three in a row overall.
The Raptors have dropped four in a row after losing 131-125 at home to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.
The Raptors will retire Hall of Famer Vince Carter’s No. 15 in the event of this game on Saturday.
DeRozan, acquired by Sacramento from the Chicago Bulls in July as part of a three-way trade, has scored 20 or more points in each of his first five games with the Kings. The other players to do that with the franchise were Chris Webber (seven straight) and Oscar Robertson (six in a row).
One of the reasons the Kings acquired DeRozan was to improve free throw shooting, both in attempts and shooting.
DeRozan went 8-for-10 from the foul line Friday and the Kings were 26-30 (86.7 percent) in the game. Last season they finished last in the league with 74.5 percent.
“DeMar has always been a good shooter,” said Kings guard Kevin Huerter, who scored 10 points on Friday. “Being one of the guys that always comes in during the game helps with that.”
De’Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 31 points on Friday, while Domantas Sabonis added 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Atlanta rallied to tie the game at 109-109 with 5:51 left. DeRozan helped hold the Hawks by sinking four free throws in the final 1:25.
“We were busy there,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “And we put the ball in DeMar’s hands, and you just see his rhythm, his speed. It’s really, really good. There’s no panic in anything he does.”
Fox said, “(DeRozan) just makes the game easier. Obviously, teams don’t want to switch him to small guards, and he can get to the free throw line. So he’s a tough cover, but he’s a passer in a way that makes the game easier for everybody.”
The Raptors got 33 points and a career-best 12 assists from RJ Barrett on Friday and rallied in the second half after trailing by 26 points. Gradey Dick added a career-best 31 points, while Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The Raptors trailed 43-19 after one quarter but scored six times in the fourth quarter.
“The first quarter was really difficult,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We found a rhythm in the second quarter and found our mojo and energy, and from then on we played very well.”
Toronto was without Scottie Barnes (right orbital fracture), Immanuel Quickley (pelvic contusion), Bruce Brown (knee surgery) and Kelly Olynyk (back strain).
Ja’Kobe Walter, sidelined with a shoulder injury, had five points and six rebounds in 22 minutes in his NBA debut on Friday. He was ranked 19th this year.
“He has a really good nose for the ball,” said Rajakovic. “He’s a very good defender on the ball. He has very active hands, long arms. He’s very disruptive, and he has a very good feel for rebounds offensively and defensively.”
–Field Level Media
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