Up-and-down Raptors, banged-up Lakers clash in LA
It has been nearly a month since the Toronto Raptors have lost consecutive games, and they will attempt to keep that run alive when they hit the road to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Since dropping back-to-back games Dec. 20-21, the Raptors have gone 8-5 but enter a five-game road trip against Western Conference teams following a 121-117 overtime home loss against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
After each of its past four losses, Toronto has rebounded with a victory, including three instances in which they won at home. The lone bounce-back win on the road in that stretch came Wednesday against the lowly Indiana Pacers.
Scottie Barnes recorded 24 points against the Clippers, while Jamal Shead scored 15 points with 13 assists. Sandro Mamukelashvili delivered 22 points off the bench in a game the Raptors led by as many as 14 points and were up by 11 to start the fourth quarter.
Toronto was up 109-101 with 3:35 remaining and did not score again in regulation time. They went 0-of-5 shooting from the floor down the stretch and missed their lone free-throw attempt, while also committing a turnover.
"We got a couple of open shots that we needed to knock down," Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. "Our defense was not good in the fourth quarter. They scored 31 points (after) we won the first, second and third quarter."
Rajakovic said postgame "there will be good film to watch," and the long flight to the West Coast gave him plenty of time to watch.
The Lakers continue to search for a winning formula while going 5-9 since Dec. 20.
Los Angeles went 9-4 to start the season without LeBron James, who was recovering from sciatica, but they are 5-7 since Austin Reaves went down with a calf strain. The includes the Christmas Day loss against the Houston Rockets during which he was injured.
After the Lakers gave up 135 points, tying a season high, in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday, they fell 132-116 on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.
In the opener of a back-to-back scenario, the Lakers played without Luka Doncic (groin), Deandre Ayton (knee) and Jaxson Hayes (hamstring). Doncic played the previous three games with groin soreness and still averaged 36.0 points in the stretch.
"Every team goes through it. I'm not saying we're singled out, but this has just been our season," Lakers head coach JJ Redick said about the team's injury issues. "You get one guy healthy, another guy gets injured. You get one guy back, another guy gets injured. Tonight you play without your two centers."
Marcus Smart scored 25 points for Los Angeles, one off his season high, while James added 20 on 6-of-16 shooting with nine rebounds and eight assists. Drew Timme scored a career high 21 for the Lakers in his 16th game over two NBA seasons.
Los Angeles earned a 123-120 victory at Toronto on Dec. 4 when Rui Hachimura hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Reaves scored 44 points as Doncic missed the game for the birth of his child. Barnes scored 23 points for the Raptors.