December 6, 2012

Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan drives past Kings guard Aaron Brooks (right) at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif., Dec. 5, 2012. (MAX WHITTAKER/Reuters)

SACRAMENTO - This time, the Toronto Raptors didn’t wait for the fourth quarter to get the comeback started.

This time, the rally got started early and erased a 13-point deficit.

But in a year when the Raptors are showing every which way to lose a game, this turned out to be just another punch in the gut as a huge comeback was wasted yet again, this time in a 107-100 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

In a game the Raptors had to have on a road trip that only gets tougher from here on out, the Raptors dug themselves a 13-point hole early in the third quarter and then climbed all the way out of it on the backs of Kyle Lowry’s aggressiveness and a turn-back-the-clock night for Mickael Pietrus.