"We all got our behinds kicked": Kings' coach stunned by shocking loss to Raptors
With the Toronto Raptors embarking on a seven-game road trip, it wouldn’t shock anyone to have low expectations of the team’s West Coast swing.
Toronto’s often looked listless, disoriented, and disorganized, as they’ve gone 10-15 in their last 25 games.
But on the first game of the road trip Wednesday night, the Raptors flipped the script,Ā picking up a shock 113-95 over the Kings.
The 95 points allowed was just the third-lowest total of a Toronto opponent this season, with performance being praised by Kings coach Mike Brown.
š£ Coach Brown shares his thoughts on tonight's matchup. pic.twitter.com/Vyyg0qeXVR
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) January 26, 2023
“Their length, their athleticism, their switchability and their ball pressure. Their physicality sped us up,” Brown told the media postgame. “We didn’t do a great job of handling that at all. We always talk about winning the possession game, and we weren’t even close. They kicked our behind on the glass. They kicked our behind in the turnover area. It’s hard to beat a team when a team gets up 24-25 more shots than you do.”
Sacramento is the highest-scoring offence in the NBA, averaging 119.7 points per night, but Toronto limited them to just 73 field goal attempts while the Raptors took 97. Sacramento committed 19 turnovers, while the Raptors committed nine.
Brown also had praise for a pair of Raptors players coming off the bench, an area that’s been a notable struggle for Toronto for much of this season.
“Precious Achiuwa, we couldn’t stay in front of him,” Brown added. “He drove by us when he wanted. Chris Boucher came off the bench and really hurt us in the first half in the paint, he had a couple of threes too. Their bench was good… we all got our behinds kicked, from me on down.”
Brown isn’t the first coach to reference, er, a derriĆØre after a loss to Toronto this season.
“They bust their ass,” San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said following a 143-100 loss to Toronto this season, while Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers told reporters that Toronto “kicked our butt” following a 119-109 loss in the opening week of the season.
The Raptors take on the Golden State Warriors tomorrow, with tipoff set for 10 pm ET.
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