Lakers

2022 - 3 - 14

Three Things to Know: Lakers vs Raptors - 3/14/22 (unknown)

Lakers on the second game of a back-to-back host Toronto on Monday at 7:30pm PT on Spectrum SportsNet.

VanVleet is questionable to play against the Lakers, having missed seven of their last 11 games with knee soreness, while Anunoby is definitely out with a fractured finger. In fact, Toronto throws out a lineup that closed the game in Denver in which 6’7’’ Dalano Banton and 6’7’’ Scottie Barnes were the “guards,” or at least initiators on offense, allowing them to switch everything defensively. That was the main thing, trying to get that swelling down on the strain of the muscle. The Lakers are starting to run out of regular season games, with just 15 remaining. LeBron was able to play in both of those games, but he recently missed a March 7 game at San Antonio after his knee soreness didn’t go away following a March 5 game, and subsequent flight to Texas. Davis, of course, has yet to return from his mid-foot sprain, though he did provide an update before the game at Phoenix:

Phoenix Suns began beatdown of Los Angeles Lakers way before Sunday night (unknown)

“We have a team full of guys who are highly remorseful after a loss,” Suns coach Monty Williams said after Saturday's practice. “There's a competitive nature in ...

“We’re going to play well,” Williams continued. It was intense with a purpose.” “Coach trusts us,” Ayton said. “And it wasn’t intense for intense stake. “We’ve got to respect our opponents,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said. “It wasn’t selfish, it wasn’t like, ‘I want more points,’” Williams said. “He’s just like, look, ‘Coach, I can do work down there.’ As a coach, you have to take that and understand. “I feel disrespected if they come out small,” Ayton said. “We’ve just got to stop him,” Williams said Saturday. “That’s what I’m thinking about right now. “DA doesn’t make those kind of statements so he can score more or get more points,” Williams said. “We know what Bron had been doing as of late,” Booker said. “There’s a competitive nature in our gym that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

Lakers suffer another poor first quarter and can't recover in loss to Raptors (unknown)

LeBron James scored 30 points, but the Lakers had a second consecutive ugly first quarter en route to a 114-103 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

“It takes its toll on your individual psyche and the psyche of your group. The Lakers have lost 10 consecutive games on the road. The Lakers scored just 12 points in the first quarter, which was tied for a season low in a quarter. They got down and didn’t let go of the rope.” And we’re not letting go of the rope. “So we had thought there was a chance with the back-to-backs, he would sit out the second night.”

LeBron, hapless Lakers simply no match for surging Raptors (unknown)

The Los Angeles Lakers are like a TV drama that makes things that so many people might aspire to or dream about seem utterly miserable.

“There’s just too many too many times where we just get into big deficits,” said Lakers head coach Frank Vogel. “It takes its toll on your individual psyche and the psyche of your group and you're constantly trying to push your guys to be better and coach them hard but also trying to keep them lifted. They've never lost to James in L. A. and have won six straight in the building formerly known as Staples Center. The last time they lost was Nov. 30th, 2014. In contrast, the Raptors keep plugging. The Raptors are no one’s definition of NBA royalty, but they win. They needed the breathing room -- a 20-10 Lakers run cut the Raptors' lead to 11 with 3:20 to play but Barnes broke the L. A. pressure and made a perfect lob to Precious Achiuwa to calm things. They’re in ninth place in the West, a game ahead of 10th-place New Orleans. The championship James won with Davis in the bubble in 2020 stands as a James high point -- and nothing wrong with that. The Lakers could take a lesson from the Raptors, honestly. But it’s the only time the Lakers have made it out of the first round since he moved to Brentwood, and this season is setting up to be a new low point as they struggle to avoid missing the play-in tournament. The Raptors also surpassed the pre-season over-under for wins set for them by most oddsmakers. Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, scoring more than 20 points for a personal-best seventh straight game. When LeBron James manoeuvred his way to Los Angeles prior to the 2018-19 season, it seemed like he had found the perfect place to play out his unfathomable career.

Post cover — Image courtesy of "LeBron Wire"

NBA Twitter reacts to Lakers getting destroyed by Toronto Raptors (LeBron Wire)

There were lots of ugly reactions across Twitter after the Lakers were totally inept against the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

Other than a brief, desperate run by L.A. late in the fourth quarter, the game was never the least bit competitive. Almost nothing went right, and the 114-103 final score wasn’t indicative of how humiliating the game really was. On Monday, the Purple and Gold gave up the first nine points of their contest against the Toronto Raptors. From there, it was garbage time; Toronto led by 21 at the end of the first quarter.

Scottie Barnes Doesn't Back Down From LeBron James as Raptors Roll Past Lakers (unknown)

The Toronto Raptors watched Scottie Barnes go right at LeBron James in a crucial victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

He can prevent him from running into the post really deep and getting it down there deep with some body," Nurse said of the decision to start Achiuwa. "I thought he did good." He sized up James and went right at him, dribbling inside to the short mid-range, and rising up for a floater with James draped all over him. Whether it was the double teams Toronto sent his way or the second night of a back-to-back for the Lakers or just Father Time catching up to maybe the greatest of all time, his 30 points just didn't quite feel the same as they once did. It was just two games ago that he dropped 50 points on the Washington Wizards. But he and this Lakers team aren't the same. Sure, he put some scare into the Raptors late as Los Angeles cut Toronto's 28-point lead down to just nine, but he didn't have that otherwordly power he used to bury the Raptors with. A quarter later, he dribbled the ball off his knee, allowing the Raptors to connect on an alley-oop slam that Precious Achiuwa flushed to quell the Lakers' first-half run.