-In an interesting twist of irony, while last year's Toronto Raptors' club couldn't stop anyone, this year's version can't seem to score on anyone. The result last night was an embarrassing loss to the Washington Wizards and tonight it was another L, this time to the nearly equally hapless Sacramento Kings, 98 to 91.
-The Raptors held the Kings to 37 per cent shooting but shooting only 42 per cent themselves, and being outshot at the free-throw line 34 to 21, the Dinos couldn't generate enough O in key moments to get this win. Add on the fact that DeMar DeRozan was invisible for the bulk of the game once more, and Andrea Bargnani was only 2 of 13, and then strained his calf in the third quarter, leaving Toronto without their top gun for the game's final period, and that was that. Leandro Barbosa was 11 of 18 for a team-high 24 points off the bench, but most of that came before the final quarter.
-That being said, there wasn't a huge difference between these two clubs when the buzzer sounded. Neither club looked like they wanted to win, and it was the Kings' small advantages in various categories like offensive rebounding that tipped the scales.
-Oh, and some fella by the name of DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins had a monster outing, barely missing a 20-20 match. The Raptors had no answer for him on the glass, and once their only regular big body, Andrea Bargnani, left the game for good, Cousins took over. In fact of his 21 points and 19 rebounds, 13 and 8 of these (including 4 of Cousins' 5 offensive rebounds) came after Andrea's exit.
-Toronto now gets a much needed day off from game action, but is back at it Friday against the Indiana Pacers. Considering the past five matches, only one of which was a win and four were...well...not so pretty losses, fans might be in for a really ugly stretch. Factor in the potential injury to Andrea Bargnani, and even the return, and successful return I might add, of Linas Kleiza tonight probably isn't enough to manufacture light at the end of the tunnel.