Lakers Vs. Raptors Preview: Bounce Back Game

The Lakers (4-2) have another back-to-back with the Toronto Raptors (3-2) on Sunday. The purple and gold will be at home for these next two games.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Toronto Raptors

When: 6 p.m. PT, Nov. 1

Where: Crypto.com Arena

Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet

The Lakers’ loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday will certainly be in the running for one of their worst defeats this season. When it comes to games like this, the best thing to do is take note of what went wrong and delete the tape, especially after that first quarter.

Three things went wrong for the purple and gold in that game. For starters, they struggled mightily whenever Luka Dončić was on the bench. Second, they committed a season-high 20 turnovers, with Austin Reaves accounting for eight. Lastly, the Warriors simply played harder and smarter than the Lakers.

So now, how does Los Angeles respond to their worst loss of the young season thus far? We’ll know when they take on a very good Raptors team on Sunday.

The Raptors enter this game having the third-best defense in the league. They won’t have Kawhi Leonard, but they have capable scorers like Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. They may look like the same Raptors team the Lakers have faced over the years, but make no mistake, this group has developed and is better than ever.

As a defensive-first team, these Raptors ranked second in steals and are an above-average transition team, so the Lakers really have to take care of the ball in this one. Toronto will also attempt to expose the Lakers’ weakness in rebounding, knowing they now rank dead last in the league in rebounds per game. The Lakers can’t be outworked once again if they want to win this game.

LA has to force the Raptors to execute in the half court, where their offense is less reliable. It would be nice to see a better performance from Reaves and Walker Kessler who has been quite mediocre for his standards over the last couple of games. Reaves and Dončić will face a lot of ball pressure and physicality, so they’ll have to counter with their ability to manipulate the defense and control the game’s pace.

After suffering their first loss of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Lakers wasted no time responding, coming out firing and cruising past the L.A. Clippers the following day. Now, the Lakers have another opportunity to bounce back from their worst loss of the young season. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond and what adjustments they make moving forward.

Let’s see if they can execute better and more importantly, get back on the winning column against the Raptors on Sunday.

Notes and Updates

• For the Lakers’ injury report, Cameron Carr (right oblique strain) is no longer listed
• However, Adou Thiero (left knee injury management) remains out and Ziaire Williams (left foot injury management) is questionable.
• As for the Raptors, Leonard (left knee injury management) won’t be ready to go while Nate Bittle (right avulsion fracture) is out.

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.