The Los Angeles Lakers continue to string together wins when they need them, and they have a lot more fight than they have shown in a couple of years.
On Friday, they hosted the Toronto Raptors, a team that has a mediocre record but possesses plenty of talent and always plays them tough. Los Angeles hadn’t defeated the Raptors at home since the 2014-15 season, back when Kobe Bryant was still its leading man.
The two squads got engaged in a seesaw, topsy-turvy affair that was intense and fast-paced. Toronto went up 25-10 in the first quarter, but the Lakers fought back to take a 10-point lead just before halftime. After the Raptors reestablished a double-digit lead in the third quarter, L.A. went to a zone defense, which helped turn things around.
Anthony Davis and company outscored the visitors 37-22 in the fourth quarter, leading to a 122-112 victory. Interestingly, the team made much of its fourth-quarter run with Davis on the bench for the first 6:03 of the period.
The Lakers have now won eight of their last 11 games, and they’re now just one game behind the sixth-place Dallas Mavericks and 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers, who are in fifth place in the Western Conference.
Davis had a very quiet and lackluster offensive outing, scoring just eight points on 4-of-7 shooting and zero free throw attempts. His teammates didn’t look to get him the ball a lot, but some of that was because the Raptors prevented him from having the airspace to do his thing.
When he did get the ball, Toronto threw a lot of double teams his way and shaded an extra defender in his direction in order to prevent him from making a lot of forays into the paint.
But Davis still got the job done defensively and on the boards. He grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots, which was an indication that he was engaged and active.
Meanwhile, the fact the Lakers won against a tough and talented opponent despite just eight points from Davis is an indication of their newfound depth.
Vanderbilt only had four rebounds in 30 minutes on Friday, but he helped out in other ways, including an unexpected one.
He is starting to flash more of his offensive abilities. He hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter, and he made each of his first five shots of the game, giving him a team-high 14 points in the first half. In the second quarter, Vanderbilt grabbed a defensive rebound and looked to go all the way on the ensuing fast break, where he…
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