Raptors’ three at the buzzer goes for naught after review

SACRAMENTO — New arena, same old story for the Raptors.

Clearly it wasn’t just that dumpy old Sleep Train Arena that made the annual visit to the California capital such a pain for these Raptors.

Only this time there was a catch as the Raptors appeared to hit the overtime-forcing three only to have a replay overrule the basket and send Toronto home with a 102-99 loss.

Terrance Ross certainly seemed to get the shot off in time with .5 seconds still remaining when it left his hands but something in the replay showed enough that the referees reversed the call and disallowed the basket.

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was irate and never seemed to get a suitable explanation eventually slamming his clipboard on the court as he left.

Even with the surreal ending, Toronto’s string of uninspired play in nobody’s idea of a basketball hotbed for many years continued, this time with a loss to a Kings team that for the second year in a row swept the Raptors in the season series.

That’s 3-17 in Sacramento for the Raptors all-time and still not a really good reason for it.

For at least the past five years the Raptors have come into this city with the better team on paper yet can’t seem to find the solution to the Kings.

For the second time this season it was former Raptors Rudy Gay leading the charge against his one-time teammates with 23 points on a very efficient 9-for-13 shooting night.

DeMarcus Cousins got into some early foul trouble but he too chipped in with 19 points and nine boards.

The Kings also got double-digit scoring contributions from Darren Collison and Aaron Afflalo.

The Raptors had a handful of chances to either win this one or force overtime but couldn’t buy a bucket down the stretch.

DeMar DeRozan was good on just 3-of-14 as the Kings blitzed him into his worst shooting night of his stellar season.

The Kings held the league’s leading scorer to just 12 points in total, six of those from the line.

Picking up the slack was the combination of Valanciunas and Carroll who had 23 and 17 respectively.

Lowry meanwhile continued his improved shooting with 23 points on 50 per cent shooting while maintaining the rest of his solid allaround play.