The Los Angeles Lakers have been dominant at home to start the 2024-25 season and they put their undefeated home record to the test when they hosted the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors entered the matchup as a large underdog because they were playing the second night of a back-to-back, but took it to the Lakers in the first half. Toronto was the aggressor on both ends of the floor and had Los Angeles battling from behind for most of the evening.
However, the Lakers were able to respond in the second half and managed to pull off a blowout 123-103 win to improve to 6-4.
LeBron James has shown he loves to play against the Raptors and he continued the trend as he led the second-half comeback for the Lakers. After starting the night off slow offensively, James went to work in the third and fourth quarters by doing just about everything to climb back into the game.
James was brilliant as a facilitator, constantly finding the cracks in the Toronto defense and hitting teammates for quality looks they were able to knock down. Meanwhile, he helped key some transition buckets by clearing the defensive glass.
James stuffed the box score en route to his third triple-double of the season and second in a row, recording 19 points, 16 assists and 1- rebounds.
Aside from James, though, Austin Reaves was the most consistent scorer for Los Angeles as he stayed hot from beyond the arc. Reaves was able to get to his spots on the floor and made Toronto pay for leaving him open from deep as he drained three of his nine 3-point attempts.
Reaves was also great attacking the rim as he was able to convert on multiple three-point plays. Reaves finished the night as the game’s leading scorer with 27 points but he also added six assists.
Anthony Davis was on his way to another monster night, but unfortunately he got hit in the eye in the third quarter and wound up missing the rest of the contest. Before he exited, Davis scored 22 points on 6-of-8 shooting including a perfect 2-of-2 from distance. He also had four rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks.
Jaxson Hayes took over for Davis and had his best game of the season, scoring 12 points and six rebounds off the bench.
What’s next for Lakers
The Lakers will get a couple of days off before they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night in a rematch of last week’s contest.
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