The Los Angeles Lakers impressive seven-game winning streak was ended last night following a 113-104 home loss to a shorthanded Toronto Raptors team. The theme of the game was fastbreak points as the Toronto Raptors pushing the pace with a small ball line as the Lakers failed to generate offensive, Toronto outscored Los Angeles 32-8 in transition points.
The Raptors entered the game missing Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka, but it did not matter as the rest of Toronto’s players stepped up in the absence. Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet each proved to be difficult for the Lakers to stop as they hit big shots en route to a combined 47 points.
“They’re the best, fastest team in the league… fastbreak points per game, we knew that coming in. We knew we had to execute offensively and when we didn’t, it was gonna be a runout that we couldn’t recover from,” said Head Coach Frank Vogel “We’ve been showing great effort in transition defense and getting back in sprints and trying to make recovery plays, but that wasn’t always there for us tonight and it cost us.”
The Lakers boasting one of the league’s best overall defenses entered the third quarter up eight points, but the Raptors aggressive up-tempo offense proved to be a big issue. The Raptors repeatedly pushed the ball following any Lakers’ miss or turnover. The difficult time manufacturing any offense for a stretches saw the Lakers’ lead disappear. Down 12 points, Kyle Kuzma hit back-to-back three-pointers that cut the deficit to six. However, his next two attempts were misses that the Raptors quickly took advantage of. Running out in transition Siakam was able to score a pair of baskets that ultimately ending the game.
This game serves as a good lesson for the Lakers not to take their foot off the gas pedal after going up by sizable margins. Anthony Davis was the only bright spot of the night, finishing with 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting in 38 minutes, LeBron James struggled only managed to score 13 points while rotational players like Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were held scoreless.
“I think the 18 points in the third quarter… we gotta get our offense clicking. They killed us in transition. We had some good looks, we missed shots and they had some big plays. But we gotta be able to score the basketball a little bit more,” Davis shared. “Our defense might not be there or they’re making tough shots but we’re fine. We’re still gonna hang our hats on defense, we’re gonna move the basketball. The zone was a little different, they threw a weird double team at me and I had some costly turnovers the entire game. I gotta be better there, but we’ll watch the film and see where we can get better.”
While the loss was unfortunate, Davis and the Lakers have a good opportunity to get back in the win column when they face the Phoenix Suns on the road.
Recent Comments