The Los Angeles Lakers played at home against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night, trying to keep their winning streak going after beating the L.A. Clippers in a big game.
They were tied for the season again, but a win brought them even, and they held on for a 132-131 win.
After making their first three-pointer, Cam Reddish finally tied the game at nine points apiece. Someone else didn’t score a point until Anthony Davis got five points to start the game.
When the Raptors were down a starting center, Jakob Poeltl, Davis kept working hard down low in the early going. Then Christian Wood came in and scored five straight points for L.A. He did something right away.
Before the end of the first quarter, Davis and Dennis Schroder, who used to play for the Lakers, traded three-pointers that put the Lakers ahead 28–24.
In the beginning of the second, D’Angelo Russell made a 3-point shot. After that, neither team scored again. James didn’t score until the middle of the second quarter, when he made a three-point play going to the basket. James then made a long shot from the logo that put Los Angeles ahead by eight points.
The Raptors did a great job on attack after adding R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. They led 53–51 at halftime.
They were careless with the ball at the start of the third quarter, which let the Raptors make a three-pointer that gave them a seven-point lead. After that, Reddish and Taurean Prince answered with their own threes, which helped a lot because Quickley then made two straight shots from deep.
James then came back well by making back-to-back layups and a three-point play. Then Prince made another three to pull the Lakers within two points and give the Raptors time to think.
Max Christie and Russell then made threes, and Jarred Vanderbilt and Russell scored on the fast break to give the Lakers an 84–78 lead. But Schroder led the Raptors to a strong end to the third quarter. They went into the fourth with a slim 89-88 lead.
Wood made two big three-point shots to start the fourth quarter, which put the Lakers back ahead. It was Davis’s turn to score again, though, and James made a three-pointer to tie the game at 105. Things stayed close.
He hurt his team in the end by making some bad calls, like a clear violation that meant the player had to leave the game. They then took the lead again, and Austin Reaves finally scored after having a rough start to the game.
They fought back, but by the end of the game they were down by one point. Davis blocked the shot and then made two free throws to save the day for L.A. The Raptors then lost the ball, which gave the Lakers the chance to win.
They made some shots and got a lot of fouls late in the game to try to stay in it, but Davis’s big free throws sealed the deal.