Quick Reaction: Lakers 131, Raptors 125

Barrett continued to showcase his ability to find open teammates when operating as a pick n’ roll ball handler, finding Jakob Poeltl on the roll early. He also came off a DHO and lobbed to Mogbo. As always, he churned his way into the paint with ease, and scored the basketball. He did have a couple bad turnovers, including a pass thrown directly into Lebron’s leg to start the second quarter. Tough stuff from Barrett as the game progressed, including beating Lebron off the dribble and finishing through contact at the basket. His playmaking, especially when acting as the primary ball-handler, has been impressive this season. Career high 12 assists for Barrett in this game.

Agbaji had difficulty navigating screens early on, allowing a wide open 3 for Lebron James, and he also got back-cut by DeAngelo Russell. The defence was a little below Agbaji’s usual standard early on, but we also should cut him a little slack, he had the impossible assignment of guarding James. On offence it was a mixed bag. He missed his threes, but also kept up his strong finishing at the basket. The defence improved later on, and he did a better job keeping James in front and navigating coverages.

Tough matchup tonight for Poeltl tonight against Anthony Davis, who managed to score over the top of the seven-foot Austrian when he was in drop early in this game. Poeltl’s normally impeccable help principles looked a little off early, and there was minimal resistance at the rim. The Raptors also came into the game with the best rebounding percentage in the league, led by Poeltl, however the Lakers out-rebounded the Raptors 17-8 in the first quarter on the way to a 43-19 lead. He steadied to his normal self as the game progressed, finishing with his usual soft touch, positioning himself better defensively, and making some clever passes.

Dick had some defensive miscues to start the game, including allowing a blowby to Austin Reaves. And after an incredible run of finishing at the rim from as of late, his touch looked a little off early in this game too, missing a finger roll and a floater in the lane. But that changed quickly, and soon he was back to getting buckets all over the floor. He continued to hit on those quick-trigger 3s off of pin-downs out of the corner and then hit a pull up 3 in transition directly after. Dick also canned a middy off a Chicago action (running off an off-ball screen into a hand-off). It was the same Horns Skip/Slip Chicago set that we saw the Raptors run against the Celtics during the preseason. He drove into a clogged lane and had a nice finish high off the glass on a contested lay-up to finish the first half. The mid-range jumper was on as Dick hit another – this time a nice baseline fade – in the third. Ended up setting a career-high in scoring for the third time in four games. What more can we say, Gradey Dick has arrived.

Mitchell made a strong-handed play on the inside early to deflect a pass to Davis out of bounds, preventing a bucket. His shot just wasn’t falling tonight and he missed a number of open looks. That is until the fourth quarter, when he made up for it and cashed his first two 3s – joining Dick and Barrett as the only Raptors who scored from beyond-the-arc. Mitchell found teammates out of the pick n’ roll, although his timing was off and he picked up his dribble early too often.

Almost had the Tony Snell line in his five second quarter minutes. Boucher looked a little disjointed tonight. He did make a couple Baskets in the third, but overall he was lacking the usual spark he brings.

A little bit of an off night for Shead. His effort is always there on defence, but there are going to be growing pains for any first year NBA player, even a four-year college player with the polish and pedigree of the Houston product. He ate an elbow during his first stint, shook it off, and proceeded to get a couple buckets. Tough as nails!

Mogbo continued to play strong defence on the ball and was active with his hands, grabbing two steals right away. He played some good minutes as the nominal small-ball five in the first and third quarters when Poeltl came out of the game, and is so good at pushing in transition off of rebounds. Mogbo found cutters on back-to-back possessions, first hitting Walter underneath on the high-low and then finding Agbaji cutting baseline. He did a good job guarding Lebron at times but it’s hard when he’s throwing outrageous behind-the-back dimes to AD.

On his first NBA possession, he nashed his dribble and found Mogbo with a pass, ultimately resulting in a bucket. Interesting. Walter’s second offensive possession he took a handoff from Poeltl going into the corner and only hesitated ever so slightly before pulling up (he missed). He continued to get some shots up and even though they weren’t dropping, his level of activity on the glass and on defence was impressive. Walter went up to finish after Mogbo found him on a basket cut, and got it to go through contact. Later he took the ball to the hoop again and drew a foul for free throws. The rookie also had sweet chase down block in transition. Fun debut.

Carton did have the Snell line in his five first half minutes. This isn’t supposed to be about the box score, although I’m honestly not sure what else to add.

Had to take three first quarter timeouts on the way to 43-19 Laker lead. The execution of the ATO’s was a little clunky. He also ran some creative sets that were successful, so give him credit there. I liked the rotations today too, prefer seeing Mogbo at the small-ball five instead of Bruno Fernando when Poeltl isn’t on the floor. The Raptors faced a deficit as large as 26 very early in this one, and didn’t give up. It seems like the players really want to play hard for Rajakovic.