Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons in a loss to the Toronto Raptors
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers are not unstoppable after all. Their seven-game streak was snapped by the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night. Lake Show Life will break everything down in Lake Show Life Lessons
The Los Angeles Lakers walked into Sunday’s matchup with the Toronto Raptors with the best record in the NBA. They were riding a seven-game winning streak and the Raptors were without Kyle Lowry (Broken thumb), Serge Ibaka (Sprained ankle), Kawhi Leonard (Left as a free agent), Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Chris Bosh, Damon Stoudamire, you get the point right? The Raptors were short-handed and this looked like a trap game for the Lakers. That was the major point of conversation in the comment section of the last Lake Show Life post game report.
Well, it was. The Lakers had to lose to Murphy’s Law eventually and Sunday night was the night for a shoe to fall. The Lakers bid goodbye to their season long, seven-game winning streak losing to the World Champion, Toronto Raptors,113-104.
History teaches that this really shouldn’t be a surprise. This loss is the tenth in a row for the Lakers to Toronto, which is the most of any other team in the NBA.
This game was different from recent games. The Lakers were smoking on offense, scoring 60 points in the first half. The second half was a different story as the offense slowed, bothered by the energy and length of the Raptors. The Lakers were constantly being beat in transition defense and before you know it, the games was tied at 78 at the end of the third.
In crunch time, Toronto used their fast break to run off a 13-3 spurt to take a 91-81 lead to break the game wide open.
The defense the Lakers used on Memphis, San Antonio and Chicago was used against them as the Raptors smacked every Lakers rally. When the Lakers blew two 4 on 2 fast breaks in a row while Toronto took advantage, it was plain to see that it wasn’t the Lakers night.
Let’s get to the Lake Show Life Lessons.