The Los Angeles Lakers largely remained competitive despite struggling from the field but ultimately were unable to overcome their shooting woes and were blown out by the Toronto Raptors, 123-111. The loss snapped the Lakers’ four-game winning streak that tied a season high.
Julius Randle had 17 points and 10 rebounds, notching his 12th double-double of the season. He added five assists, which also were most on the team.
There otherwise were few offensive bright spots for the Lakers. They began the night just 2-for-9 and as a result fell into an early deficit. The Raptors went on a 13-2 run in the first quarter and an 11-1 stretch in the second.
When Brook Lopez and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined for a trio of 3-pointers, the Raptors responded with a 7-0 spurt after having their lead trimmed to five points. Toronto took further control in the third to put the Lakers in a 16-point deficit.
Jordan Clarkson got hot in the fourth quarter and finished with 17 points. He entered the night with four straight games of at least 19 points, the longest stretch of career.
In addition to Clarkson and Randle, Caldwell-Pope (16 points), Larry Nance Jr. (15) and Brandon Ingram (14) also reached double-figures. Ingram made his first shot of the night but then missed his next nine and finished a lowly 4-for-14.
Fred VanVleet paced the Raptors with a career-high 25 points off the bench. DeMar DeRozan had 19 points to go along with seven assists. VanVleet and DeRozan were among the seven Raptors to score at least 10 points.
As a team the Lakers shot 43.5 percent, and 23-for-33 (69.7 percent) from the free throw line. They did manage to pull down 13 offensive rebounds, which helped keep them within striking distance into the fourth quarter.
WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION? CHECK OUT THE NEW LAKERSNATION FORUM CLUB
