Los Angeles Lakers: Seven-game winning streak snapped by Raptors

The Los Angeles Lakers saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end against the Toronto Raptors.

After a very successful road-trip for the Los Angeles Lakers, they saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday night. Despite the Raptors being without Kyle Lowry, they were able to have a lot of success on the offensive end of the court against the Lakers.

So far this season, the Lakers have been one of the best defensive teams in the league. However, the Raptors were able to exploit some things and come away with a win on the road. Considering the Raptors were without Lowry, this is a great win for them, and a poor loss for the Lakers.

Wtihout Lowry, the Raptors obviously had some players step up. As expected, Pascal Siakam lead the way for the Raptors with 24 points on 9-of-25 shooting from the field. The Lakers did a good job early on guarding Siakam, but he eventually got it going in the second half.

In addition to Siakam, the Raptors also received a big game from Fred VanVleet. For as long as Lowry is out, VanVleet will be carrying a heavier load on his back, and he looked good against the Lakers. In the win, VanVleet totaled 23 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. It was a great all-around game for VanVleet, and he played a huge role in the win.

For the Lakers, it wasn’t the worst showing possible, but their defense did let them down. In the early part of the season, the Lakers have been able to lock teams down for extended stretches of the ball game. That wasn’t the case unfortunately against the Raptors.

While the loss does snap a nice winning streak, the Lakers can certainly bounce back from this game. Hopefully, this loss will be a good reminder for the Lakers that they can’t take teams lightly on any given night.

Next up for the Lakers will be an interesting showdown against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns are certainly one of the surprises early on this season, and the Lakers will surely be very focused coming off a loss to the Raptors.