The Toronto Raptors dealt Sacramento its only loss on a four-game road trip, and the host Kings will be seeking swift payback when the teams clash Wednesday on the West Coast.
Swingman RJ Barrett scored 31 points and was stellar down the stretch on Saturday as Toronto edged Sacramento 131-128 in overtime.
Barrett couldn’t replicate those same heroics two nights later in Denver, missing a 27-footer over Russell Westbrook at the horn, which allowed the Nuggets to escape with a 121-119 victory.
Gradey Dick scored 26 points to stamp himself as an early contender for the league’s Most Improved Player, having bumped his scoring average from 8.5 points last season to 21.6 points across the Raptors’ first eight games of 2024-25.
For all his fine work, though, the second-year guard will rue three costly turnovers inside the last four minutes.
“We talked a lot and addressed the problem of turnovers,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said. “In the fourth quarter, I felt we got a little bit rattled. We did not handle that pressure of what you need to do on the road to win a game like this.”
The Raptors led Denver by 11 points inside the last six minutes and were still up by six just before center Jakob Poeltl picked up his fifth a