Los Angeles Lakers put on a 3-point clinic against Raptors

The Los Angeles Lakers started their five-game trip on the East Coast against the Toronto Raptors. Lakers fans, the Lakers REALLY put on a Lake Show from behind the arc.

Does anyone from the Los Angeles Lakers fanbase want to talk about the movie trailer for ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ starring LeBron James or something? Anybody going to see the movie?

The Los Angeles Lakers followed up an anemic 34 points first-half performance by doubling up on the Toronto Raptors with 68 before halftime. By then the game was over and this post-game was 90 percent done.

The final score of 110-101 is not the reflection of the game itself. The Lakers were up as many as 34 points in this game and a Raptors team missing Kyle Lowry and Fred Van Vleet wasn’t going to win this game. Talen Horton-Tucker led the Lakers with 17 points.

The difference?

• 3 point shooting: Lakers shot 18-33 and the Raptors shot 5-33.
• Bench scoring: Lakers, 49. Raptors, 30.

Now the fun starts for the rest of the week when they face the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Marc Gasol is straight balling right now!

Marc Gasol has made his feelings known about the Lakers bringing in Andre Drummond and the possible dissipation of his place in the rotation. But since Drummond got hurt, Gasol has played lights out (For him!) the last couple of games. After being the only starter to hit double figures with 11 points.

Against Toronto, it looked like he was taking the Raptors’ matchups as personal as his frustrations about his Lakers role. He finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds IN THE FIRST QUARTER!

Whether his conditioning has caught up or he’s playing angry, Marc Gasol is playing his best stretch of basketball in a purple and gold uniform. He finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds 5 assists and 4 blocks.

The 3-point shooting!

Before the Lakers broadcast, Stu Lantz declared that the Los Angeles Lakers had to knock down at least ten 3-pointers to win this game. The Lakers had NINE (9-13) before the end of the first quarter.

Then they shot 61.9 percent for the half.

• Markieff Morris had three shots from downtown.
• So did Alex Caruso.
• Kyle Kuzma and Wesley Matthews had a couple.
• Marc Gasol, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Talen Horton each took one and knocked theirs down. 

Oh, you get the point.

Markieff Morris’ hot starts scoring offensively.

For the last few games (This includes the Clippers debacle!), Markieff Morris has really been stroking the 3-pointers early and often. He finished with 15 points by halftime. The Lakers have to emphasize finding Keef when he is on a roll and ride his hot hand. He didn’t score again after intermission.

Devontae Cacok played!

This writer gets excited every time Cacok plays! He finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds in only 17 minutes.

Stu Lantz and Bill MacDonald.

Games like these are not easy to keep entertaining when a game is virtually over after the first 12 minutes, but the dialogue between the two was very funny. In a game that dragged along when everyone involved wanted it over, these two kept things lively on the Lakers broadcast. Fans don’t take these guys for granted. They are the best tandem in the NBA.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Montrezl Harrell got ejected in the first quarter.

This was terrible. Trezl should not have been ejected. He was defending his teammate Dennis Schroder like power forwards should. PERIOD!

Lake Show Life would have been all over Montrezl if he HADN’T reacted this way. If the NBA does not rescind the technical fouls and fines, the team needs to pony up the money and pay it for him. LeBron James and Anthony Davis should take him to dinner and have a bottle of wine.

If Lakers fans didn’t love Montrezl Harrell before, man they should love him now.

Numerous Lakers players took shots to the face.

No one is saying that basketball is not a contact sport, but these players took some real shots to the face.

• KCP got slapped in the face by a Raptor shooting a layup. (Luckily the coach’s challenge got a technical foul out of it!).
• Marc Gasol got a knee to the face after Chris Boucher was swinging on the rim after a dunk.
• Alex Caruso took an elbow to the face defending Gary Trent Jr.’s 3 point shot (That was called an offensive foul on Trent Jr.). 

The Toronto Raptors.

But that’s the FanSided’s Toronto Raptors website, Raptors Rapture problem.

The turnovers.

This won’t matter in blowout games like this, but this lack of ball security can’t travel to South Beach or to New York. The Lakers turned the ball over 21 times. They are ranked 27th in the NBA in turnovers with nearly 15 a game.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The Lakers got back to their principles.

To be clear here, the Toronto Raptors did not show up to play in this game but that’s not the Lakers’ fault. Like Montrezl Harrell stated a few weeks ago, the players get paid to win. But the energy level was much higher in this game than on Easter Sunday.

Lake Show Life had a scalding post-game report calling the team out for an embarrassing effort against the Los Angeles Clippers…

• Los Angeles Lakers get blown out on Easter Sunday by the Clippers
• Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons from Easter Sunday Clippers beatdown

But it was because this team did not put forth any effort. The coaching staff saw what the Lake Show Life staff saw and clearly demanded more effort. Obviously, the defensive end was a major focus.

The Lakers will lose games from time to time on this trip, but there are ways of losing that are acceptable. If the team loses to Miami on Thursday or Brooklyn on Saturday playing like this, no one will be disappointed.

The Los Angeles Lakers signed Ben McLemore for the rest of the season.

A few hours before the game the Los Angeles Lakers added Ben McLemore to the roster, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. McLemore, a former No. 7 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, was on the Lakers’ radar after being waived by the Houston Rockets on Saturday. He cleared waivers on Monday and was signed for the rest of the year.

To the fans that are wondering about the Rob Pelinka “Balling on a Budget” plan. The Los Angeles Lakers can still make moves according to salary cap expert Bobby Marks… 

"The Lakers were ineligible to claim McLemore because of the hard cap and had to wait for him to clear waivers. The guard will cost $455K (if signed by today) and put LAL $505K below the hard cap."

This leaves the team the option to sign another player before the postseason starts, they’ll have to waive someone on a guaranteed contract (Goodbye Alfonso McKinnie or Jared Dudley!) because they now have the NBA’s roster maximum of 17 players.

What does McLemore potentially bring to the Lakers?

• Two seasons with Houston Rockets: Averages of 9.3 points (41.9 percent shooting from the field) (38.2 percent from 3-point range).
• Career: Averaged 8.9 points (41.7 percent shooting from the field) (36.3 percent shooting from 3-point range).

Let’s just say that if you are under Klutch Sports, there is a home for you with the Los Angeles Lakers. Quite a list that is growing on the roster.

– LeBron James- Ben McLemore

– Anthony Davis- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

– Montrezl Harrell – Talen Horton-Tucker

For more updated information on the newest signee of the Lakers check out Jason Reed’s analysis of Ben McLemore with more to come.

•  Los Angeles Lakers: Ben McLemore is the perfect plan B target
• Los Angeles Lakers: The ceiling and floor of new Laker, Ben McLemore

Enjoy the win Lakers Nation! These are to be cherished until the “Big 3” comes back.