A collection of rookies and reserves staged a huge fourth-quarter comeback, but the Sacramento Kings came up short in their preseason opener against the Toronto Raptors.
A.J. Lawson and Alijah Martin made two late 3-pointers to help the Raptors hold on for a XXX victory over the Kings on Wednesday before an announced crowd of 16,362 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Domantas Sabonis had 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting with four rebounds for the Kings (0-1). Zach LaVine scored 16 points in 15 first-half minutes before sitting out the second half, going 5 of 7 from the field and 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Dylan Cardwell came off the bench to score 12 points in 13 minutes. Rookie first-round draft pick Nique Clifford had 10 points, three rebounds and nine assists in an impressive debut.
Brandon Ingram had 21 points and six rebounds for the Raptors (1-1). Ja’Kobe Walter scored 15 points, Gradey Dick had 14 and R.J. Barrett had 13 despite going 3 of 11 from the field.
Halftime report
The Kings trailed 9-2 in the opening minutes after going 0 of 5 from the field to start the game. They came back to take a 15-11 lead on a 3-pointer by LaVine, but the Raptors responded with an 11-2 run.
Toronto went up by as many as 11 and led 36-27 at the end of the first quarter. Sacramento had no answer for Ingram, who scored 14 points while going 5 of 6 from the field and 4 of 4 from 3-point range in the opening period.
The Raptors opened up a 14-point lead in the second period. The Kings came back to cut the deficit to five with 2:37 remaining, but they trailed 65-52 at the halftime break.
The highlight of the half for Sacramento came when Murray blocked a shot by Ochai Agbaji and Drew Eubanks blocked a shot by Collin Murray-Boyles a second later to snuff out a Toronto possession. Murray had four blocked shots in the opening half.
Second-half surge
Clifford started in place of LaVine in the third quarter. A team source said LaVine was not injured, adding that Christie planned to sit his star shooting guard in the second half.
The Raptors went up by 19 after outscoring the Kings 9-3 to start the second half. They led by as many as 25 and entered the fourth quarter with a 97-78 advantage.
Christie pulled DeRozan, Murray and Sabonis with 4:25 to play in the third quarter and removed Schroder a moment later. That cleared the way for Clifford to finish the game along with Isaiah Stevens, Devin Carter, Dylan Cardwell and rookie Maxime Raynaud.
Sacramento’s reserves rallied against Toronto’s bench to cut the deficit to six on a dunk by Cardwell with 2:02 to play, but Lawson and Martin answered with clutch 3-pointers to end Sacramento’s comeback bid.
Preseason schedule
10/10 at Portland Trail Blazers
10/15 vs. Los Angeles Clippers
10/17 at Los Angeles Lakers