D’Angelo Russell had 25 points and seven assists, LeBron James added 23 points and nine assists, and the visiting Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors 128-111 Tuesday night.
It was the 14th loss in a row for the Raptors.
Anthony Davis added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers (43-33) who are 4-1 on their six-game road trip.
Rui Hachimura scored 14 points as Los Angeles won for the seventh time in eight games. Max Christie scored 12 points off the bench.
RJ Barrett scored 28 points to lead the Raptors (23-52). Immanuel Quickley added 20 points. Kelly Olynyk and Gradey Dick each scored 14 points.
Barrett and Quickley returned to the lineup after missing time for personal reasons. Barrett had missed nine games and Quickley six.
The Lakers won both games between the teams this season.
The Lakers led by 21 points entering the fourth quarter. Russell’s 3-pointer gave Los Angeles a 25-point lead with 10:07 to play. The lead reached 30 on a Christies layup with 8:38 to play. The lead would grow to as many as 33.
The Lakers led 34-25 after the first quarter.
James scored on two consecutive layups to give the Lakers a 46-33 lead with eight minutes to play in the second quarter.
Quickley’s 3-pointer trimmed the margin to seven with six minutes left in the half. Hachimura countered with four straight points. The Raptors came back and when Barrett’s driving layup completed the scoring in the first half, the Lakers led 64-58.
The Raptors cut the lead to three on Barrett’s layup with 10:22 to play in the third quarter. Davis then scored four straight points to bump the lead to seven before the margin increased to 13 on an 8-footer by James with 7:41 remaining in the quarter. Russell’s 3-pointer increased the lead to 23.
Gary Trent Jr. (rest) and Ochai Agbaji (hip) did not play for Toronto.
Gabe Vincent (knee) did not play for Los Angeles, two days after playing his first game in more than three months.
–Field Level Media