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Slumping Raptors visit Kings Tuesday night
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 12/2/2014  at  4:58:00 AM
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TORONTO RAPTORS (13-4)

at SACRAMENTO KINGS (9-8)

Tip-off: Tuesday, 10:05 p.m. ET
Line: Toronto -1, Total: 199.5

Two teams who have been dealing with some major injuries of late, the Raptors and Kings, meet up on Tuesday night in California.

Toronto has been one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference so far this season and has won 6-of-8 games SU (4-4 ATS) coming into this contest, but has lost each of the past two. The team can partly blame its past two losses on the absence of injured leading scorer SG DeMar DeRozan (groin), who is out indefinitely. The Raptors defense has been horrible during the two-game losing skid, allowing 106 points in a loss to the Mavericks, and then suffering an embarrassing 129-122 defeat as 7-point road favorites versus the Lakers on Sunday night. They allowed the usually poor shooting Los Angeles club to hit 49% FG in the overtime game. Sacramento was also looking like a great surprise team, but has followed a three-game win streak with a three-game losing skid (1-2 ATS) with the average margin of defeat being 11.0 PPG. Star C DeMarcus Cousins (illness) did not play in either of the past two losses, and is questionable for Tuesday. In Sunday's 97-85 defeat, the 5-point underdog Kings fell prey to the stingy Grizzlies’ defense, as they turned the ball over 23 times, giving them 57 turnovers (19.0 per game) during the three losses. Sacramento has cruised in its recent meetings with the Raptors, going 14-2 SU (12-4 ATS) since 1996, and has won each of the past four home meetings (3-1 ATS) by an average of 10.3 PPG. Last season these teams each won their home game in the series, with Toronto getting a 99-87 victory in the most recent matchup on March 7. In both of the meetings, the Kings really struggled from the field while shooting below 42% both times. Some trends to keep an eye on for Tuesday include that Toronto is 33-16 ATS (67%) when coming off a road loss in the past three seasons, while Sacramento is 27-13 ATS (68%) after three or more consecutive losses in the same timeframe.

Which team can stop its losing skid on Tuesday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a 61% ATS record (49-31) in featured games this season. StatFox Gary has a 56% ATS record (14-11) in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Brian is 5-1 ATS in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 23.

For an Eastern Conference team, the Raptors have been quite impressive on the offensive end with 108.5 PPG (2nd in league) behind just 45.3% shooting from the field. They have gone off in their past six games with an impressive 114.7 PPG, but have failed to do much on defense, surrendering 112.5 PPG in the past four contests. Overall on the year they have given up 98.9 PPG (14th in league) on 45.9% shooting. PG Kyle Lowry (19.2 PPG, 6.6 APG, 5.2 RPG, 1.2 SPG) will need to become the team’s catalyst with DeRozan out, and Lowry filled the stat sheet in the first game (29 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) with his teammate injured. In his two games against the Kings last season, Lowry shot poorly (33% FG), but still put up 16.5 PPG, 7.5 APG and 5.0 RPG. SG Lou Williams (14.6 PPG, 1.5 SPG) has been explosive off the bench all year long and will have an extended scoring role with DeRozan’s injury. Williams has netted 22.0 PPG (44% FG) over his past five games, and has faced Sacramento 13 times (2 starts) in his career where he's averaged 11.7 PPG (43% FG) and 3.2 APG. C Jonas Valanciunas (11.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.3 BPG) has shot a solid 56.3% on the season, and has grabbed double-digit rebounds in each of his past two games. Last season against the Kings (2 starts) he was able to tally 13.0 PPG (71% FG) while grabbing 8.0 RPG and blocking 1.5 shots per game.

Sacramento’s offense has been solid this season with 101.2 PPG (12th in league) on 45.6% FG (13th in league), but has failed to crack 100 points in three of the past four games. On the other end of the court, the Kings defense has been pretty poor so far, giving up 100.6 PPG (10th-worst in league) on just 44.3% FG (9th in league). C DeMarcus Cousins (23.5 PPG, 12.6 RPG, 1.5 BPG) has missed two games with a virus, but the team is hoping he will be good to go for this one, as he has had a double-double in all but two of his games played so far this season, including 25.6 PPG, 15.6 RPG and 1.8 BPG in his past five contests. Over his seven career starts against the Raptors, Cousins has averaged 22.9 PPG (57% FG), 11.9 RPG and 1.0 BPG. SF Rudy Gay (21.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.1 SPG) has also missed a few games lately, but is coming off two solid outings against both San Antonio (23 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) and Memphis (20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists). He has played Toronto 14 times in his career, scoring 18.5 PPG (46% FG) to go along with 7.4 RPG and 1.6 SPG. PG Darren Collison (15.9 PPG, 6.6 APG, 1.6 SPG) has excelled with his new team, and is coming off a solid all-around effort against the Grizzlies as he scored 16 points to go with seven assists, seven rebounds and four steals. He’s taken on the Raptors 11 times in his career and has averaged 10.1 PPG (44% FG) and 4.5 APG.


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