Here is what you need to know before the Lakers take on the Toronto Raptors.
1) Kobe Bryant continues to lead the league with 26.4 points per game, 1.2 more than second-place James Harden. Bryant is on pace to shatter the scoring record for a player in his 19th NBA season set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1987-88 (14.6).
2) Robert Sacre has made the most of his minutes in the Lakers’ past seven games, shooting 23-for-35 from the field (65.7 percent). The 25-year-old has averaged 7.3 points in 12.7 minutes during this stretch.
3) The Lakers have never lost the season series to the Raptors. L.A. has swept Toronto 10 times, while the other eight series were split.
4) Against Dallas on Friday, the Raptors lost DeMar DeRozan for an indefinite period due to a torn tendon in his left groin. DeRozan made his first all-star team last season and leads Toronto with 19.4 points per game.
5) The Raptors will now rely even more so on Kyle Lowry, who is averaging 18.6 points. The point guard’s specialty comes when driving to the hoop, as he scores the sixth-most points on drives (6.2) despite driving just 7.6 times per game (21st).
6) Louis Williams has been one of the NBA’s most complete two-way players thus far. With 1.5 steals per game, Williams leads the league in steal-to-foul ratio (1.20) and is third in steal percentage* (3.7). On the offensive end, he has led his team in points off the bench in 11 games, including a career-high 36-point effort against Cleveland on Nov. 23.
7) Jonas Valanciunas has been Toronto’s most efficient scorer. Averaging 11.9 points, the Lithuanian sports the NBA’s fifth-highest field goal percentage (57.8) and the fourth-most points per shot (1.64).
8) The Raptors boast one of the league’s most potent offenses. Toronto’s 107.6 points per game trails only Dallas (109.1), as does its 110.7 offensive rating** (Dallas: 113.8). The Eastern Conference leaders have been held under 100 points just twice in 16 games, which has been the key to their 8-0 record when holding opponents below triple figures.
9) The Raptors love taking pull-up shots, as they average a league-high 27.4 per game. Toronto trails only the Clippers in pull-up baskets (10.2) and points (23.1), though it also ranks just 17th in field goal percentage (37.4).
10) Toronto has constantly crushed opponents’ fourth-quarter comebacks. Since the beginning of last season, the Raptors are 46-2 and have won 36 straight when leading after three quarters.
*Steal percentage is an estimation of the percentage of opponents’ possessions that end with a steal from a certain player.
**Offensive rating is a calculation of the number of points a team scores per 100 possessions.