TORONTO — After back-to-back losses to start their five-game road trip, the Lakers stressed the importance of staying organized offensively after they felt a lack of organization led to their first two defeats.
It was apparent they took lessons from those losses, with the Lakers dominating the short-handed Toronto Raptors for one half in their 131-125 victory on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The Lakers were decisive and purposeful with their spacing. Their actions and movements were crisp. They took care of the basketball.
But they weren’t as crisp defensively – the less glamorous end of the court – in the second half after entering the third quarter with a 25-point lead.
The Lakers took their foot off the gas, and the young and scrappy Raptors exploited that, cutting their deficit to 11 (99-88) at the end of the third quarter and six (104-98) early in the fourth.
But the Lakers’ offense helped its defense, running back-to-back offensive actions that led to Rui Hachimura corner 3-pointers to extend the lead back to 15 points.
And once the Raptors cut their deficit to nine (115-106), the Lakers returned to that action to get an Anthony Davis and-one layup to go up by 12 and a D’Angelo Russell 3-pointer to take a 123-111 lead with two minutes left.
They stayed ahead for the remainder of the game to end their losing streak and get their first victory of the five-game trip.
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The Lakers (4-2) were led by Davis’ season-high 38 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, two blocked shots and two assists.
LeBron James finished with 27 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.
Austin Reaves had 20 points and six assists and Russell added 19 points and six assists. Reaves played in the second half after rolling his right ankle in the second quarter and briefly going to the locker room.
The Lakers shot three times as many free throws as the Raptors, going 36 for 41 while Toronto finished 11 for 13.
The Raptors (1-5) were without Scottie Barnes, Bruce Brown, Immanuel Quickley and Kelly Olynyk.
They were led by RJ Barrett’s 33 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. Gradey Dick had 31 points, seven rebounds and three assists and Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The Lakers continue their trip against the Detroit Pistons on Monday.
More to come on this story.