The Los Angeles Lakers let a solid, competitive first half of basketball go to waste in a 101-92 loss to the Toronto Raptors. A 14-0 run from Toronto in the fourth quarter sealed the game as the Lakers came up empty on answers.
Head coach Luke Walton even did a full lineup swap, moving away from a struggling starting lineup to what’s becoming a bit of a bench mob, but they too failed. The Raptors steadily crept into the game from halftime on, and LA’s offense never quite found its groove.
The Lakers’ three-point shooting struggles to start the year continued, with the team making just three of their 23 attempts. The Raptors were kind enough to play by those same rules, going 7-of-29 from deep themselves.
Brook Lopez led the Lakers’ starters with 13 points, which goes to show just how poorly the front five played against Toronto. Lonzo Ball went just two-of-seven from the field, tacking on seven rebounds and six assists.
That left Julius Randle (18 points), Kyle Kuzma (15 points) and Josh Hart (9 points) to play a big rol ein keeping the Lakers in the game, even when the reserves didn’t get the kind of high-powered game we’ve seen from Jordan Clarkson to start the season. Another issues came in the form of turnovers, with the Lakers coughing up the rock 21 times and getting away from making points off of turnovers, one of the keys to their early success.
DeMar DeRozan had a quiet first half but brought the pain in the second, ending the night with a game-high 24 points. Kyle Lowry messed around and got a triple-double (11 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists), and it wasn’t a good day in Los Angeles. Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka each chipped in 18 points, and it was enough to put away the Lakers.
The purple and gold will be on the move, lacing them up again Saturday night in Utah against the Jazz.