Lakers-Raptors Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Jan 19 2013 2:05PM

With their four superstars together on the floor, the Los Angeles Lakers are looking to build more chemistry while trying to turn things around on the road.

Hoping to avoid their first five-game road skid in six years, the Lakers try for a fifth consecutive victory over the hard-luck Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Despite losing seven of nine, Los Angeles (17-22) was close to a victory Thursday before falling 99-90 at home to Miami. With Pau Gasol back after missing five games with a concussion, the Lakers went on a 14-3 run to take a three-point fourth-quarter lead before LeBron James helped the Heat pull away.

"I thought we played well enough to beat them," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "That's a championship team.

"It's a good measuring stick. We have to get better. We've got to get smoother."

Even with Gasol, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash together for only the 10th game this season, Los Angeles shot 43.1 percent, committed 20 turnovers and went scoreless in the final 2 1/2 minutes.

"We couldn't get a rhythm and I thought we could have made a lot more money out of a lot of situations over the course of the night that we will down the road," Nash said. "I think we showed our lack of common experiences."

Gasol, who didn't start, had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and five fouls in 24 minutes. After scoring 53 over the previous two games, Dwight Howard had 13 points and 16 rebounds but went 5 of 13 from the free-throw line.

Kobe Bryant, who scored 22, found reason for optimism after Los Angeles held its third straight opponent to fewer than 100 points after giving up 111.8 in the previous six.

"It's not much of a setback," he said.

The Lakers begin a three-game trip trying to avoid losing five straight away from home for the first time since March 4-15, 2007. They may have a good chance to avoid matching that slide as they've won two in a row at Toronto and are 12-4 there overall.

Bryant scored 27 and hit a fadeaway jumper with 4.2 seconds left to give the Lakers a fourth consecutive victory in the series, 94-92 at Air Canada Centre on Feb. 12.

Howard averaged 30.0 points in his last three games there with Orlando.

Hoping to avoid their third losing streak of at least five contests, the Raptors (14-56) have dropped each of the last three by seven or fewer points - the past two in overtime. After falling 107-105 to Chicago on Wednesday, the Raptors blew a 19-point lead en route to a 108-101 defeat at Philadelphia on Friday.

"When you want to become an elite team and that team wants to win and make the playoffs, you don't have an ease mode," said guard Kyle Lowry, who had 11 points and 11 assists against the 76ers. "You have to go hard and try to win every game and keep it going."

Toronto has struggled to sustain anything positive with Andrea Bargnani out indefinitely and Jonas Valanciunas and Linas Kleiza day to day.

Point guard Jose Calderon has totaled 50 points and 18 assists while going 21 of 32 (65.6 percent) from the field in the last two home contests versus Los Angeles.

Fields scores 18 as Raptors beat struggling Lakers

By IAN HARRISON
Posted Jan 20 2013 7:07PM

TORONTO (AP) A worn-down Kobe Bryant called it a "sub-par" performance. For the Los Angeles Lakers, it was the latest in a string of similar efforts by a struggling team.

Landry Fields had a season-high 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors sent the Lakers to their fifth straight road loss, 108-103 on Sunday.

Bryant scored 26 points and Pau Gasol had 25 for the Lakers, whose road skid is their longest in six years. Dwight Howard was ejected after drawing his second technical foul with 1:18 left in the first half.

The Lakers fell behind by 15 points midway through the first quarter and lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

"We've got a lot of issues," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Offensively the ball sticks and we don't take very good shots. Defensively, ups and downs, we forget guys."

Jose Calderon had 22 points and nine assists while Ed Davis had 18 points and eight rebounds for Toronto. Alan Anderson added 14 points and eight assists as the Raptors ended a four-game losing streak against the Lakers.

"That was one of the most complete games we've had all year, top to bottom," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

Bryant made 10 of 32 shots, including 3 of 12 on 3-pointers, and complained the "heavy legs" had dulled his shooting effort.

"I've just got to rest my legs," he said. "My legs are a little tired. My shots are just short. That's on me. I'll take this loss on me, gladly. There were a lot of easy shots, a lot of them, that I should have put down.

"My offense was sub-par in terms of missing easy shots," he said. "I've got to do a better job of putting that ball in the hole when the opportunity presents itself."

Steve Nash scored 16 points and Earl Clark had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the poor-shooting Lakers.

"I didn't feel like we were ready to play," Nash said. "We cut too many corners at too many different times in the game and had too big a hole to climb out of.

"We're just not finding any consistent level out of our group," he said.

Howard got his first technical for arguing after a missed jump shot with 4:43 left in the first quarter. The star center was tossed after he and Anderson were called on a double technical when they got tangled up after a free throw. Howard finished with five points in 17 minutes.

Howard left without speaking to reporters, but Bryant said he was upset by the costly ejection.

"I really don't agree with that one at all," Bryant said. "What's a player supposed to do? A guy cuts in front when he's trying to walk back up the court. An official told me he should just walk away. I said, `Which direction? Should he just turn around a just walk to the bench?"'

Clark said Los Angeles struggled to defend the paint without Howard's presence inside.

"When he's gone, it's just a layup special," Clark said.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Kyle Lowry and layups by Terrence Ross and Anderson gave Toronto a 95-76 lead with 7:29 left, forcing the Lakers to call timeout.

Los Angeles responded with a 3 by Nash and, after a layup by Fields, a pair of 3-pointers by Bryant and a layup by Antawn Jamison made it 97-87 with 5:22 remaining.

Bryant hit a 3 with 1:35 left, cutting it to 103-97, but Amir Johnson rebounded Anderson's miss and scored a layup to make it an eight-point game with 1:02 left.

Gasol returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench for the first time in his Lakers career in Thursday's loss to Miami. Gasol had sat out the previous five games with a concussion after being accidentally elbowed in the face by Denver's JaVale McGee.

It was a slow start for the Lakers, who missed 12 of their first 15 shots and were down 19-4 with 5:50 left in the first. Bryant missed his first six shots and made just one of eight in the opening quarter as Toronto led 29-20.

"We started off awful, without any energy," D'Antoni said.

Gasol scored 10 points and Bryant had nine in the third, but the Raptors got 10 points from Fields and six each from Calderon and Davis to take an 83-70 edge into the fourth.

NOTES: Raptors C Andrea Bargnani (right elbow) has resumed working with a basketball, while rookie C Jonas Valanciunas (broken right ring finger) is lifting weights, Casey said. ... Nash made his first visit to Toronto since passing on a contract offer from the Raptors to sign with Los Angeles last summer. ... This was the first game of a three-game road trip for the Lakers, who will also visit Chicago and Memphis. ... Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban attended the game.

Notebook: Raptors 108, Lakers 103

Duane Watson, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:15 PM - Updated Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:15 PM

THE FACTS: The Toronto Raptors (15-26) snapped a four-game losing streak defeating the Los Angeles Lakers (17-23) 108-103 at a sold out Air Canada Centre on Sunday afternoon. The Raptors built up a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter and while the Lakers rallied, they didn't squander it. The Lakers have now lost eight of their last ten games and their fifth in a row on the road, with two more to play in Chicago and Memphis.

Jose Calderon's 22 points and nine assists led the Raptors, while Landry Fields added a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds along with four steals. Ed Davis scored 18 points with eight rebounds and Alan Anderson contributed 14 points and eight assists off the bench.

After a first quarter where the Raptors led by as many as 16 points, the Lakers made a 17-7 run in the second to bring it to a 53-49 game at halftime. However, the Lakers' Dwight Howard was ejected in the second quarter after he earned his second technical foul in the game. Pau Gasol scored 10 points and added three rebounds in the third but an 11-3 run by the Raptors to close out the quarter widened their lead to 83-70 after three quarters. The Raptors opened it up to a 19-point lead in fourth, but the Lakers took an 18-6 run to bring the game to six points at 103-97 with 1:35 left. However, Anderson's lay-up and Kobe Bryant's subsequent 3-point shot that caught all air, secured the Raptors eleventh home victory.

Bryant's game-high 26 points led Los Angeles, while Gasol added 25. Steve Nash scored 16 points with nine assists and Earl Clark came off the bench with a double-double of 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "It's tough, but as I said, we have to keep competing. We can compete against anybody in this league, we have to do it for 48 and try to minimize those mental mistakes we have sometimes."
-- Raptors guard Calderon on his team closing out games.

THE STAT: The Raptors free throw shooting was .588 percent, they shot 3-for-7 during the fourth quarter while the Lakers made their run. No team shooting that poorly should win, but the Raptors did.

TURNING POINT: With the Lakers on a 18-6 run with 55.9 seconds left in the fourth, Bryant airballed a three-point attempt that deflated the comeback and allowed the Raptors to cling to a 105-97 lead, that subsequently led to a free throw match which Toronto the prevailed.

QUOTABLE II: "I've just got to rest my legs. My legs are a little tired. My shots are just short. That's on me. I'll take this loss on me, gladly. There were a lot of easy shots, a lot of them, that I should have put down."
-- Kobe.

HOT: Fields did a solid job of containing Bryant on defense, but also contributed offensively shooting 8-for-11 from the field for 18 points with a double-double of 10 rebounds and added four steals.

NOT: Despite his 24 points, Bryant took 32 shots to get them. He had a difficult time dealing with the length of Fields on defense, shooting 10-for-32 from the field and 3-for-12 from the three-point line, with five assists and six turnovers.

BAD MOVE: With 1:18 left in the second quarter, Anderson and Howard were hit with double technical fouls. Unfortunately for Howard, it was his second of the game after arguing with officials and led to an automatic ejection.

NOTABLE: The Raptors are 1-20 when opponents score 100 points or more against them. The Lakers have lost their fifth game in the road in a row for the first time in six years. The Raptors ended a four-game losing streak to the Lakers. Calderon has totaled 72 points and 27 assists while shooting 30 of 47 from the field in his last three home games against Los Angeles.

UP NEXT: For the Raptors: Wednesday @ Miami, Thursday @ Orlando, Saturday vs. Cleveland. For the Lakers: Monday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Memphis and Friday vs. Utah.

• Lakers: Blake, Hill
• Raptors: Bargnani, Valanciunas

• Lakers: Bryant, Howard, Howard
• Raptors: Anderson

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
• Officials: #41 Ken Mauer, #33 Sean Corbin, #44 Eli Roe
• Attendance: 19800
• Duration: 2:14