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LOS ANGELES – What promised to be the most exciting game of the Toronto Raptors' debut could be avoided if the air was let out about 90 minutes before the start of the game at Staples Center where LeBron James was waiting.
It does not matter. The Raptors only continued and proved that they did not need Kawhi Leonard to live and fly in Los Angeles.
The last time the Raptors saw James, he broke their heart in Cleveland, inflicting their third consecutive playoff loss and their tenth consecutive loss in the post-season against him. Dark days followed. Good men have been fired. A great player is exchanged.
It was a tumultuous time.
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But the result was that the Raptors had found Leonard, one of the only ones in the world on the planet who could credibly claim to have defeated James in a playoff series – as suggested by the MVP trophy for Leonard's 2014 NBA Finals.
How could you not be excited at the prospect of the Raptors facing James with one of the few players in the NBA who can compete alongside him?
But a trivial game with just over two minutes to play in the Raptors 'win on Friday night in Phoenix sent Leonard into the locker room and obstructed a TV show not to be missed when the Raptors' head coach Nick Nurse has delivered the news in his pre-game media availability.
"He's up for the game," said Nurse, an airless balloon floating on the ground behind him. "He has a pain in his left foot and he is absent."
Leonard's absence may have ruined an early season scenario, but it did not affect the Raptors. Not a bit.
Instead, they achieved a memorable performance imaginable on the brightest stage of the NBA, while they quickly jumped on the Lakers and stayed on top of them late in a 121 – win victory. 107 which improved the Raptors record to 9-1 while leaving the Lakers at 4 -6.
This has never been doubted. Not even a little.
When Lance Stephenson made a pull-up in transition with a time remaining of 2:21 in the first quarter, the Lakers fans cheered, but the hockey fans cheered the goalie in the last save after leaving three muffins in the first period. .
This was not sincere.
Stephenson's basket, after all, was the Lakers' second goal in five minutes, during which the Raptors had an incredible 24-2 run. The Lakers were booed. Stephenson's basket raised the score to 41-12. At this point, Serge Ibaka had already scored 20 points and was a perfect eight of eight goals on the field, en route to a career-high 34 points on 15 out of 17 shots.
Kyle Lowry entered the game by leading the NBA in aids, averaging 11.2 points per game. He had nine assists before the start of the match, he had 10 minutes. He needed 10 assists to break the Raptors record for consecutive games with 10 assists or more set by Damon Stoudemire in the inaugural Raptors season.
"We played with a lot of energy for the first three quarters of an hour or whatever," Nurse said. "It was everyone, OG did a great job on James, Pascal pushed the ball, everyone seemed to be in the room trying to clear the turnovers and run with them. We felt athletic and fast everywhere tonight. "
Lowy was already in history in the second quarter, finishing with 21 points and 15 assists, his eighth straight game with 10 or more assists, averaging 12.75 assists.
This is his seventh campaign with the Raptors. What has it taken him so long to break a record in 24 seasons?
"I was going to Deebo [DeMar DeRozan]"he joked.
"[But] Serge played very well, we were shooting, we were in the rhythm, "Lowry said. Danny started well. We played well and took them back so our pace was a bit better than theirs. "
Ibaka played at his own pace, never appearing in a hurry or in a hurry, every movement in order.
"I thought he was successful in catching, being strong, being fundamental," Nurse said. "Make good solid movements and be patient, he would pump fake and guys would jump on him and he would put them down or whatever and he did a good job of getting in position, catching and finishing.
The Lakers won their game against Portland on Saturday night, likely relieving struggling head coach Luke Walton, who reportedly had a quiet conversation with Lakers president Magic Johnson at the end of the season. last week, instead of the slow start of the Lakers.
The heat can be increased again now.
To Walton's credit, his team did not fall back completely when it was reduced by 31. After being reduced by four converted touchdowns and a goalkeeper goal for the second time in the first period, Los Angeles has concocted a 17-6 record that reduced the Raptors' lead to 20. But the Raptors went on to make waves that kept the Lakers at bay. Toronto scored 14-4 and led 71-49 to half.
The Lakers reduced the Raptors' lead to 17 in the third quarter and 14 while they had four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after two Lonzo Balls. They arrived 10 minutes away from the screen before Lowry picked up a load, stared at Pascal Siakam at the other and sealed things up with a triple.
That his team does not completely fold the tent works in Walton's favor as far as evaluating his work is an open question, but the Raptors do not have to worry about them while they are heading to Utah to try to improve their record at 10-1 and 3-0 on their four-game road trip Monday night.
Leonard's availability will probably also be questioned, even though Nurse was trying to sound optimistic.
"I hope so," he said to the question of whether Leonard would be available to play. Leonard made the trip to Utah, so it's a start.
Without Leonard as James' senior supporter, Nurse said he was comfortable turning to the second-year wing, OG Anunoby, who missed most of the camp. training and three regular season games to settle a personal home problem in Missouri.
"I thought that he had made a huge effort in defense and that his attack was just a little rusty," said Anunoby's nurse, who missed four of the five triples. "He made good shots, he made a very good drive for a dunk, that was just about everything." And other than that, I thought he'd done a great job on James and we let's just wait, I thought his offense would come, he'll be here, maybe tomorrow night he'll hit three of those three instead of missing them all. "
Danny Green was good too, converting a pair of top triples en route to an evening of five on eight deep, good for 15 points, but it was Ibaka who was a revelation.
He seems to have been a completely different player this season, apparently due to his central orientation after playing the powerful striker alongside Jonas Valanciunas for most of the previous two seasons. He has more room to work as he places screens on the ball and he has more offensive choices than just spreading the ground above the three-point line. A week ago, he had a 30-point blast against Milwaukee Bucks – his best as Raptor and one of his career-highs, and he entered that game by converting 61% of his two-point attempts .
That number went up while Ibaka made his 11 placement attempts in the first half – a triple and 10 doubles – while he was leading all scorers with 26 points and the Raptors led the Lakers 74-49.
The Raptors managed to contain James at the beginning and for most of the night, limiting him to 18 points. James was on the bench when the Lakers made their last attempt. Tactically, Toronto felt comfortable leaving most other Lakers on the perimeter and tamping paint on him, which allowed them to help generously. It was not something that they could escape against Cleveland in the last four years, because the Cavs surrounded James with as many shooters as possible, put the ball in his hands and let him do some things. ravages.
James has not changed much, if at all, in his 16th season, it's just shocking to see him in yellow and purple.
The difference is that he does not have players ready to take advantage of what he brings. When James entered the third quarter with just under four minutes in the third quarter, it was the Lakers' first triple in nine attempts – the Raptors had already missed 26 goals at a time. The Lakers finished just 6 of 24 from the back and the Lakers who were not named Lebron got 4 out of 21.
"It's always the same dynamic, he passes the talk with his talent as a smuggler pushing you to help, pushing him in transition, I think he's still him," said C.J. Miles. "It's just these young people who find their way and who continue to grow too, that's the hardest thing."
The Raptors are young too, but they seem to understand what is happening. Leonard's addition is supposed to be the last piece Toronto will need to turn into a real title contender, the kind of line-up that can play against a team led by LeBron James without having to worry.
With Leonard on the sidelines and James trying to figure things out with the Lakers, the Raptors were very successful.
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