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Gameday: Lakers @ Raptors, November 1

The Lakeshow are in town on a Friday night, just a day after Halloween. Will this get spooky for the Raptors or will the Lakers be tricked by Toronto’s 1-4 record? Toronto will be without the face of the franchise Scottie Barnes for another few weeks at the minimum. Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown also join Scottie as the bench duo have yet to play for the Raptors this season. Ja’Kobe Walter will be hopeful to make his debut, as he’s been upgraded to questionable. We have a new addition to the Raptors injury report, Ulrich Chomche due to being a two-way player. The Lakers also have a ton of injuries coming into this one. Former Raptor Christian Koloko has been medically cleared to play recently, as he was unable to play last season due to blood clots, but Los Angeles will take their time in ramping up the young big man, as the plan looks like he will do so in the G League. Although he is out it’s still great to hear that he is close to a comeback. Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood are also out. Anthony Davis is probable and D’Angelo Russell has been given the green light for tonight.

Let’s talk about the Raptors season so far. After a disappointing blowout in their season and home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, Toronto beat Nick Nurse’s Philadelphia 76ers the following game, almost beat the Denver Nuggets as they let a lead slip away late at home on Monday night and their last game was a fun shootout against the Charlotte Hornets, which saw a shorthanded Raptors erase a 20+ point deficit. It started terribly, but the young Raptors have been showing fight since the embarrassing blowout. They’re playing hard, and the youngsters are showing plenty of nascent skills. There is much to be excited about. Still, it should be another tough game against a contending Lakers team.

Now for the Lakers. LeBron James has made it to his last goal and destination, as it’s been known that he wanted to play with his new teammate and son Bronny James. LA got off to a perfect 3-0 start but have lost two in a row since then with the most recent loss coming against James’ former team and hometown Cleveland in a 24-point blowout. There has been defensive slippage for the Lakers, especially in transition. Toronto likes to run. That could be an advantage. (The Cleveland game did however offer Bronny’s first points in the NBA so there was some silver lining for Lakers fans.) We’ll see if Bronny will get some run in Toronto as he’s only been able to get minutes once the game gets out of hand. Raptors fans sure will hope that’s not the case and some might be hoping it’s LeBron’s last time out in Toronto with “LeBronto” in the back of everyone’s minds.

Game Info

Tip-Off: 7:30 EST

Television: TSN1/4

Radio: Sportsnet 590

Starting Lineups (Projected)

Los Angeles Lakers

PG: D’Angelo Russell

SG: Austin Reaves

SF: Rui Hachimura

PF: LeBron James

C: Anthony Davis

Toronto Raptors