The Toronto Raptors visit the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, November 1, with tipoff set for 9 p.m. ET. Toronto arrives at 3-2 and Los Angeles at 4-2, and both teams come in off a Friday loss they will want to answer straight away.
This is a preview, and it is a good one. The Raptors have built their start on defence and on Scottie Barnes, while the Lakers lean on Luka Doncic and one of the most productive offences in the early season. Something has to give in Los Angeles on Sunday night, in the final game of the NBA day.
Barnes Carries His Form West
Barnes scored a career high 41 points on Friday, and Toronto still lost. The Raptors fell 121-114 at home to the Orlando Magic, two nights after beating the same Magic team 129-99 in Toronto. Barnes shot 19 for 34 in the loss, and Immanuel Quickley added 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds, but Orlando scored 121 and that was the problem. Toronto gave up too much at the defensive end, the end of the floor that has carried them so far.
The Raptors have allowed 106.2 points per game this season, the fourth best mark in the league, and they sit second in steals according to the Lakers own game preview coverage. Their scoring differential of plus 53, or plus 10.6 per game, tells the same story: when Toronto defend at their level, they are a hard team to live with. Barnes leads the active Raptors in scoring at 24.0 points per game and in rebounding at 6.8 per game, with 4.4 assists, and after a 41 point night his confidence will not be the issue on Sunday.
Toronto will again be without Kawhi Leonard. Leonard is out with a knee problem, listed as left knee injury management in the Lakers preview report, and reports this week have given no timetable for his return. Nate Bittle is also out with a right foot injury, an avulsion fracture. Missing Leonard removes a major scoring option and an experienced defender, and it puts even more of the creation load on Barnes, Quickley and RJ Barrett against a Lakers team that scores freely at home.
Doncic And A Lakers Bounce Back
Los Angeles have their own Friday story to correct. The Lakers led the Golden State Warriors 38-15 after one quarter on Friday and by as many as 25 points, with Doncic scoring 21 in the opening 12 minutes. They lost 112-95. Doncic finished with a game high 37 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Austin Reaves added 21, and Golden State turned the game with a 38-15 second quarter of their own on the way to an NBA Cup win.
Doncic is averaging 36.2 points, 7.6 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game this season, the engine of a Lakers offence that scores 118.5 points per game, eighth in the league. The Lakers are 2-1 at home, and their home scoring has been strong. The clear weakness sits on the glass. Los Angeles record 39.2 rebounds per game, last in the league, while Toronto pull down 44.2 and win the rebounding battle by 1.8 boards a night. If the Raptors are going to steal this game, second chances and defensive rebounds are the clearest route in.
History leans the other way. The Lakers have won seven straight meetings between these teams, a streak Toronto will be well aware of as it walks into Crypto.com Arena. Los Angeles also has the rest pattern in its favour in one sense: this is a home stand game for the Lakers, while Toronto are opening a road swing far from home, three time zones away, in a late Sunday tip.
The Matchup In One Picture
Toronto defend first and score 116.8 points per game of their own, 11th in the league. Los Angeles score more and defend less, allowing 113.3 per game, 16th in the league. The Raptors rate third in the league in defensive rating in the preview numbers at 103.7 points allowed per 100 possessions, while the Lakers offence rates fourth at 118.3 per 100. It is a clean strength on strength test, and the first quarter matters: the Lakers started Friday at full speed and then collapsed, while Toronto cannot afford to chase this game from 20 down on the road.
The Barnes and Doncic duel frames the night. Barnes has the two way load, guarding up a position and running the Toronto offence without Leonard beside him. Doncic has the scoring form and the home crowd. Quickley against the Lakers ball pressure, Barrett attacking a defence that gives up points, and Toronto and its transition game against a Lakers side that can be loose with the ball will decide the margins around that headline duel.
What A Win Would Mean
For Toronto, a win in Los Angeles would be the best result of their young season: a road win over a winning Lakers team, without Leonard, on the back of their defence and their star. It would also snap a seven game losing run in this matchup and send the Raptors home with a winning road start. For Los Angeles, this is a get right game at home after a collapse that will have stung, and a loss to a short handed visitor would turn one bad Friday into a real wobble.
Tipoff is 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 1 at Crypto.com Arena, on Sportsnet in Canada and Spectrum SportsNet in Los Angeles.
