Lakers in Toronto to Face the Raptors by Jeff Little

It’s February 12, 2012 and the (15-12) Los Angeles Lakers are in the provincial capital of Ontario and Canada’s largest city to face the (9-19) Toronto Raptors. This is their only appearance at the Air Canada Centre.

The Lakers will not have time to visit the CN Tower – the world’s tallest freestanding structure – or Toronto’s majestic castle, Casa Loma. This is still a business trip: the purple and gold have an opportunity to earn a much-needed win and finish off their extended road trip with a .500 record.

There are no excuses. The New York Knicks beat the Lakers earlier in the week, snapping their nine-game losing streak. This lead to many raised eyebrows although it was evident that L.A.’s emotional overtime win over the Boston Celtics took something out of the Los Angeles team. Today’s game will be the Lakers’ sixth in nine-and-a-half days and an early start has never been advantageous for the purple and gold.

Tonight L.A. faces another young team with a solid point guard that wants to get out in transition and run. Jose Calderon is a talented player who posted a 17-point, 14-rebound performance in their win over the Celtics. The Raptors have two L.A. area natives on their roster in starting shooting guard and former USC Trojan DeMar DeRozen – their leading scorer – who put up 21 points against Boston; and Westchester high school alumnus Amir Johnson. In order to win, the Lakers have to get off to a fast start and play with energy, focus, intensity and a sense of urgency.

The Lakers need to establish Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant in the post. It would behoove them to start their offense on the inside and provide Bynum and Gasol with 35+ shot attempts. The Lakers are settling for entirely too many jump shots and not getting the ball to their big players. L.A. must do a better job of moving the basketball and moving bodies to find the high percentage shot.

If the Lakers returned to running the triangle offense, their offensive production would increase. The core of the team is still familiar with the offense that has produced multiple championships.

This west coast team seems to play better defense at Staples Center than on the road. To come away with a win, the Lakers have to communicate on defense, do a solid job of defending the pick-and-roll play, stop the dribble penetration of the guards, control the tempo, get back in transition, win the rebounding battle and quickly rotate out to open shooters.

The Lakers’ bench has to become a factor and contribute, and the return of Steve Blake should increase their production. There must be more production out of Metta World Peace, Derek Fisher and all of the small forwards. The organization needs to get back to developing their younger players.

Starters
Lakers: D. Fisher, K. Bryant, M. Peace, P.Gasol, A. Bynum
Raptors: J. Calderon, D. DeRozen, J. Johnson, A. Johnson, A. Gray

Tip-off: 10:00 AM PST

Television –

• Los Angeles: KCAL 9 (Joel Myers & Stu Lantz)
• Toronto:  Score (Matt Devlin & Jack Armstrong)

Radio –

• Los Angeles: 710 ESPN (John Ireland & Mychal Thompson)
• Toronto: FAN590 AM (Paul Jones & Eric Smith)

Injuries –

Lakers:

• Josh McRoberts (Sprained Left Big Toe) Probable
• Kobe  Bryant (Torn Lunotriquetral Ligament, Right Wrist) Probable

Raptors:

• Andrea Bargnani (Calf) Out