A rough start to the annual back-to-back trip in Los Angeles, as the Raptors were pretty much getting blown out for a decent portion of the game. This now makes it two games in a row that Toronto has lost, and their road record drops to one and two on the year.
We’ll start with the good: Scottie Barnes continues to shine even when Toronto doesn’t, with 29 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He also added two steals, but two negatives were no three-pointers tonight and a poor 7-for-13 from the free-throw line. He tried his best to play mental games on Luka in the second half, but Doncic was way too locked in to let Scottie bother him.
RJ Barrett also had a rebound game after failing to reach double digits against Orlando; he got back on track with a 22-point performance where his three-point shooting looked as good as it has all season long. He added 10 rebounds and 5 assists, and it is now five out of six games that he and Scottie have gone for 20 points or more.
Jamison Battle had a surprising 20 bomb as he outscored his total minutes of 17, with 12 of those points coming in the form of a three-pointer.
Jamal Shead also had one of his better scoring games of the young season with 9 points and was able to make two triples on four attempts while adding six assists and three steals. Also, how about the defence on Luka Doncic in the first half?
Now to the bad, Immanuel Quickley really struggled tonight with a decent stat line of 12 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, but he shot 3-for-13 from the field. Said it before and I’ll say it again: Quickley needs to be a reliable three-point threat on a team that really lacks consistent shooters.
Collin Murray-Boyles was also not good last night, and with Jakob Poeltl being a late scratch, you would’ve thought CMB would get the start here, but it ended up being Trayce Jackson-Davis getting a surprise start. It didn’t end up mattering, as TJD only played 9 minutes to CMB’s 20, but honestly, TJD might have been the more effective player, especially given the minutes distinction.
Allen Graves also wasn’t too noticeable in this one, as he only had 10 minutes of game time and didn’t seem to display the same hustle we’ve gotten used to seeing lately.
Now on to the Lakers. I mean, maybe we’re being hard on the Raptors when Luka Doncic is going for 45 points, but at the same time, Toronto got a similar Scottie Barnes performance with 41 points and still lost. Anyways, Luka was unstoppable last night, especially beyond the arc. You know it’s his night when he’s banking in a three-pointer off a weird angle.
Walker Kessler was rock solid with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks while not missing a single shot from the field or the free-throw line. With Jakob Poeltl out, you knew his size was going to cause problems for Toronto.
Austin Reaves had 19 points on an inefficient 6-for-16 shooting from the field while adding 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Collin Sexton added 14 points off the bench along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 19 minutes of game time.
Finally, former Raptor Sandro Mamukelashvili, who enjoyed a breakout year last season in Toronto and even earned some sixth man of the year votes, was the last Laker to crack double digits in the scoring category with 11 points and two triples.
