- The Raptors were excellent against the Lakers, beating the purple and gold, 107-92.
- Nick Nurse’s side had a strong finish of the match, outscoring the LAL 35-22 in the last period.
- Raptors held LBJ and Anthony Davis to 34 points combined.
Raptors Beat Lakers for the 11th Straight Time
Toronto was splendid in the last period, showing its true face when needed the most. Nick Nurse’s players pressured one of the biggest favorites for winning the title this year, showing that they too have to be counted in all the combinations once mentioning the title talks.
The Raptors were leading throughout most of the time, having double-digit advantages on several occasions. The Lakers came back at certain moments, but the response from the other side was always ferocious.
The same happened in the fourth period, once LAL had a 76-72 lead. It seemed that they might create a swing that would break the Raptors, but totally the opposite happened. Toronto woke up, made an 18-7 series, before scoring 13 straight points and knocking out the rivals.
“They won a championship for a reason,” said LeBron after the game. “It wasn’t all solid because of Kawhi, and you can see that now.”
He and Anthony Davis scored 34 points combined, with LBJ ending the night with 20 and AD with 14. Raptors’ harsh defense wouldn’t even let them have shots, let alone hit some. The two have 22 field goal attempts in total, nine of them on the target.
The entire Lakers’ squad was awful from the field, making just 35.4 % of their tries. When looking at the three-point shooting, Lakers were 10-for-40, 25%. There was one other thing, and that is the aerial battle, with Toronto collecting more rebounds, 51-44.
Lakers lost for the 11 straight times against the Canadian team, and it seems that they can’t adapt to the style of play run by Nick Nurse and his boys.
Fantastic Lowry
Kyle Lowry dropped 33 points and had 14 boards, his personal best. He was five-for-nine from downtown, and 12-for-15 from the free-throw line, adding six assists to this all that in 35 minutes.
“He was vintage Kyle tonight,” coach Nurse said. “He was scoring and flying around and taking charges and competing and getting us some critical buckets. He was great.”
In the moments when Lakers tried to make a run, Lowry was there to stop them, whether that happened on the offensive or the defensive side of the ball.
Apart from him, OG Anunoby played very well, delivering 23 points, missing just one of his nine FG tries. Pascal Siakam netted 15 points, with nine rebounds, and two steals and blocks each. Fred Van Vleet added 13 and 11 assists with five rebounds.
“We’ve got too many competitive guys that want to go out there and play and hoop and win games, especially against the guys like the Lakers and with the team that’s No. 1 in the West. The competitive juices get going,” said Lowry.
Among the Lakers, Kuzma scored 16, 5-for-13, Dion Waiters had 12, and Alex Caruso 11.
Up next, we have the Lakers meeting Utah Jazz on Monday night. The Raptors will play against the Miami Heat on the same day, and after that, against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
