TORONTO – D’Angelo Russell scored 25 points and had seven assists as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors 128-111 on Tuesday.
LeBron James contributed 23 points and nine assists as Los Angeles (43-33) won consecutive games. Anthony Davis achieved a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
RJ Barrett, from Mississauga, Ont., led all scorers with 28 points, along with six assists and six rebounds as Toronto (23-52) suffered its 14th straight loss. Immanuel Quickley contributed 20 points and six assists.
Both players returned to the Raptors’ lineup after missing several games while grieving the loss of family members.
Quickley took a break after the passing of his uncle Shawn Hamilton due to cancer on March 20, missing six games. Barrett, whose 19-year-old brother Nathan Barrett passed away on March 14, missed nine games.
The Raptors experienced a 17-game losing streak during the 1997-98 season, marking the longest in franchise history.
Bruce Brown exited the game in the fourth quarter due to soreness in his right knee and did not return. His injury was the most recent in a series of health setbacks for Toronto.
Even though the Raptors are mathematically out of the post-season, they still have something to play for in the remaining games.
Toronto’s first-round pick in this summer’s NBA Draft is conditional, following a trade with the San Antonio Spurs last season for Jakob Poeltl. The Raptors currently have the sixth-worst record in the NBA, but if the draft lottery on May 12 shuffles them to seventh or higher, that pick will go to San Antonio.
Hundreds of yellow Lakers jerseys were seen in the lower bowl at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday, with James — a guaranteed Hall of Famer — receiving a huge round of applause when he jogged onto the court for warm-ups, and again when he and Davis were announced during pre-game introductions.
Quickley and Barrett made an immediate impact, scoring Toronto’s first eight points of the game and assisting on the Raptors’ next four points, all scored by rookie Gradey Dick.
Despite that strong start, the Lakers concluded the first quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 34-25 lead. Barrett contributed nine points in the opening period and Quickley had eight.
L.A. led by as many as 13 points in the second quarter, but Toronto narrowed the gap with a 9-3 run to end the half. Barrett led all scorers in the second quarter with 10 points, even as the Lakers held a 64-58 advantage at halftime.
Davis and James both scored nine points in the third quarter as the Lakers took control of the game, with a 17-5 run in the final four minutes of the quarter propelling the visitors to a 100-79 lead. Barrett thrilled the sold-out crowd of 19,800 with a powerful dunk with 2.1 seconds left in the period, bringing his total to 26 points.
Los Angeles, aiming to advance in the competitive Western Conference playoff race, maintained their intensity in the fourth quarter, leading by as much as 32 points. Lakers head coach Darvin Ham benched all his starters with six minutes remaining, and Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic did the same, providing extended playing time for their bench players.
The Raptors honored the South Asian communities in the Greater Toronto Area during the game with music and dancing. This included Subhadra Vijayakumar playing the national anthems on a South Indian carnatic violin, a halftime performance by Punjabi-Canadian singer Jazzy B, and a timeout performance by Tamil Canadian mridamgist Yanchan Produced.
Toronto will play against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
The Lakers will continue their East Coast trip on Wednesday with a visit to Washington, D.C.
This report by The Canadian Press was originally published on April 2, 2024.
