Friday, March 7, 4:00 PM on CSNS

Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Sacramento's Rudy Gay makes his first return to the Air Canada Centre since being traded from the Raptors on December 9th. The trade hasn't exactly propelled Sacramento into the mix of the Western Conference playoff race as they've only gone 13-25 since acquiring Gay. Sacramento is a 'respectable-for-them' 4-6 in their last 10 but that could change as part of their upcoming 7 game road swing.

Toronto on the other hand is enjoying one of their best seasons in recent memory, currently locked in a dogfight with Chicago for the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors have a firm grip on their 2nd Atlantic Division title in history with a 3.5 game lead over Brooklyn with 24 games to play. Toronto will be well rested for the game against the Kings after being off since a March 2nd matchup with the Warriors.

The two teams have met up once already this season, a 109-101 Sacramento victory at home on February 5th. The 3 scoring stars of the Kings were once again the factor in this game with Rudy Gay going for 24 against his old team, Isaiah Thomas adding 23, and DeMarcus Cousins hammering in 25 points to go along with 10 boards. The Raptors may have matchup problems on the front line with the Kings as Toronto forward Terrence Ross had an efficiency of -18, while power forward Amir Johnson was -10.

On the stat sheet Toronto outplayed Sacramento in almost every category including field goal percentage (42.9 to 39.5), rebounds (44 to 41), and 3PT (10-25 to 4-12). The biggest stat differentials that led to the Kings win was Sacramento's 17-10 edge in team rebounds and 11 to 18 turnover advantage. Sacramento was actually a -1 favorite by the oddsmakers in the first meeting and were able to cover by 8 while the 109-100 final went over the 200 total.