TORONTO – The frustration in RJ Barrett’s face was evident.
The Mississauga, Ont., native blankly stared on the statsheet, taking his time before getting his thoughts out. When he walked out of the press conference, he mumbled while shaking his head in disgust.
Barrett led the Toronto Raptors with 20 points in a 123-115 loss to the lowly Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. The Kings entered the sport tied for the NBA’s worst road record at 6-32, while also having the league’s fourth-worst record.
“We’ve been doing well. We’ve a solid record, but it surely’s nights like these where it is a game we’re imagined to win regardless of what,” he said when asked concerning the technique of a team that hasn’t been on a playoff run together. “Process or no process, we are able to’t lose this game. Just straight up what it’s.”
Toronto, which entered the competition in sixth place within the Eastern Conference, fell to seventh — a play-in spot — because of a tiebreaker with Philadelphia.
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The Raptors were coming off a road loss to the East-leading Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night and admittedly got here out without the crucial energy. And it showed as Toronto was outrebounded 48-32, giving up 19 offensive rebounds.
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“Definitely a tricky loss for us,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “I feel the sport was really (about) rebounding. It got here right down to that they’d dominated the glass … we just didn’t have enough discipline, enough effort to shut on those possessions.
“Did a extremely good job on (DeMar) DeRozan in the primary half. But … he can at any point catch fire. He was at two points in the primary half, finished the sport with 28 … but once you don’t approach the sport from the beginning, with the extent of intensity and a focus to detail that you have to have, that is the consequence.”
DeRozan and Precious Achiuwa, each former Raptors, were the first culprits on Sacramento’s end.
DeRozan scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting within the fourth quarter, including the dagger three-pointer with 1:05 left amid a 5-0 personal run that pushed the sport out of reach.
Achiuwa had 28 points and 19 rebounds, which included an 11-point, 10-rebound showing within the second quarter alone. He entered play with averages of 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
“Can’t let him (do) things like that,” Barrett said of Achiuwa’s stat line. “That they had plenty of offensive rebounds tonight. Our fight just wasn’t where it needed to be from the start of the sport.
“Us being in some early foul trouble form of made us be less aggressive, but we’ve got to grasp that we are able to’t lose the aggressiveness at that time. We’ve got to remain there, just do it without fouling.”
With six games remaining within the regular season, the Raptors sit just two games ahead of eighth-place Charlotte and 1 1/2 games back of fifth-place Atlanta in a good race for seeding within the East.
“This loss didn’t create urgency, there’s been urgency,” Barrett said. “And I feel that’s a part of why tonight is frustrating. It’s because we all know what it’s, we understand how close this race is.
“Especially now after tonight, if we don’t come out and fight with all the pieces that we’ve got for these next couple of games, we’ve got to play like our life relies on it.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press