The Lakers played back-to-back against the Raptors at home today and eventually lost to the Raptors 103-114.
In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers trailed the Raptors by 21 points at 12-33, and the Lakers shot 3 of 25 from the team, 13 of 0 from outside the three-point line, becoming the team that shot the most three-pointers in the first quarter of NBA history but did not hit three points, and 12 points also equaled the lowest score in the single quarter of the season
It is worth mentioning that in yesterday's game against the Suns, the Lakers lost 48 points in the first quarter, setting a record for the most points lost in the first quarter since the 1954-55 season. Because the start was so bad, although the Lakers forced the point difference to single digits in the last quarter, they still lost the game.
In today's game, James played 40 minutes, shooting 11-of-19, including 4-of-7 three-pointers and 4-of-7 free throws, with 30 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, but it still became an empty cut. James has scored 30+ in five consecutive games, and two of them have scored 50+. After All-Star Weekend, James averaged 33 points per game.
After All-Star Weekend, the Lakers' record is only 2 wins and 8 losses, the two games won are James cut 50+ games, James killed 50+ games are lost, even if James gets 30+, the Lakers are difficult to win.
After today's game, the Lakers have trailed the Timberwolves by 10 wins and the Clippers by five wins. If there is no playoff, the Lakers may have no chance of impacting the playoffs, but even if there are playoffs, with the Lakers' current state, the possibility of entering the playoffs is very small.
For James, since he can't win the ball, he has to focus on scoring, surpassing Karl Malone as soon as possible, and approaching the all-time leading scorer and the 40,000-point milestone. After scoring 30 points today, James is less than 100 points away from Malone and is expected to surpass in the next few games.
In addition to James, the Lakers only had three people to score in double figures today, Tucker played 27 minutes, 8 of 13 shooting, 3 of 5 three-pointers, 1 of 2 from the free throw line, and had 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Westbrook played 35 minutes, shooting 4-of-10, including 1-of-1 from three-point range and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, and only one turnover. Anthony played 28 minutes off the bench and he shot 3-of-10, 3-of-9 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the free throw line for 14 points and three rebounds.
On the Raptors side, Trent played 36 minutes and shot 7-of-19, including 3-of-9 from three-point range and 11-of-13 from the free throw line, with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Barnes played 40 minutes and shot 9-of-17 from the field, with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Siakam played 35 minutes and shot 9-of-17 from the field, with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.