Raptors miss their 3s and their 5s against the Lakers
LeBron James and Rui Hachimura made two consecutive 3s towards the end of the third quarter.
Then, Deandre Ayton scored off James’ bullet entry pass and another Hachimura triple put the Lakers up by eight points. They shot 5-10 from downtown in the quarter, but a glimmer of hope remained.
The Raptors had momentum earlier in the frame, as Brandon Ingram scored or assisted on a 7-0 run and the Raptors trailed by one. Jack Armstrong referred to the third quarter still being a “seesaw battle.”
That glimmer started to fade, however, as Collin Murray-Boyles was forced to exit the game, his left thumb sprain further aggravated by Luka Doncic.
Sandro Mamukelashvili also sat out for much of the fourth quarter, though he did make a brief appearance. The only actual 5 available was Jonathan Mogbo.
More notably, the Raptors kept struggling to break the zone and scored a measly 13 points in the fourth. They shot under 30% from the field and an atrocious 1-9 from downtown in the final frame.
The Raptors seemed deflated as Ingram’s magic was stolen by Doncic – the latter’s pressure defence forced Toronto’s clutch man into a travel. Then, Ayton scored. Raptors missed a 3 and Hachimura hit a middy on the other end. The Raptors missed another 3.
The game fell apart as the lead would balloon to as much as 19 points.
The Raptors showed fight in the first half, however, narrowing a seven-point first quarter deficit into one by halftime. Ingram caught fire towards the end, scoring consecutive middys on Hachimura and nailing a triple off a Jamal Shead screen assist. Murray-Boyles had a magnificent three blocks on Doncic in the first half, and the versatile big-to-big actions between Mamu and CMB inspired the Raptors’ offence.
There were entertaining moments throughout the game, too – an animated second quarter as Darko Rajakovic was appalled by James’ preferential treatment – he let the refs know about the missed travel call and the doubtful and-one call, got a technical for it. His reaction will continue to circulate online. The refs let Mamu get away with a clear travel on the other end.
Moments later, Scottie Barnes, who finished the game with 22 points and nine rebounds, yelled as he took the ball to the hoop, desperately looking for a foul call. Annoyed by his antics, Ayton mocked him by yelling right back into his ear. Barnes expected the refs to be a sixth man too many times, and got T-ed up in the third for complaining about a non-foul call. He did make up for it, however, by grabbing an offensive board with both hands and kicking the ball out to Shead for a 3.
Barnes, as well as Ingram, seemed to disappear in the fourth quarter, but the entire team struggled in the final frame.
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