Rui Hachimura (28) of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates with teammates Austin Reaves (15), Jake LaRavia (12) and Deandre Ayton(5) after making the game-winning three-point shot against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena \ in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Andrew Lahodynskyj, Getty Images via AFP
TORONTO -- Despite missing the services of Luka Doncic due to personal reasons, the Lakers started their four-game road stretch on a winning note defeating the Raptors, 123-120, in Toronto.
In the pre-game press conference Lakers head coach JJ Redick said, “We hope to get him (Doncic) back soon, obviously he’s away from the team for personal reasons. Don’t have a pinpointed day.”
Austin Reaves was a man possessed scoring a game-high 44 points to go along with 10 assists. LeBron James had the chance to continue his double-digit streak but made the right play by passing the ball to Rui Hachimura who hit a corner left side 3 at the buzzer. The 7th year pro finished with 12 points going 4 out of 9 from the field. James for his part ended with 8 points and 11 assists.
The Japanese national team player said, “For him to lose the streak, you know of course he's probably thinking about it. At the same time it’s crazy you know, since 2007, that’s insane... Actually I don’t even know how to describe it. He's probably been doing this for a long time of course but that streak I don’t think will never be by anybody.”
Redick said he had the group that he wanted on the last play with the shot clock turned off and didn’t need to call a time out, having trust with Reaves and James to make the right play. “I think it shows a level of trust on his teammates and I thought one of the big parts of that play once they fired on AR was him stampeding that pass which I think scrambled the defense even further than it was that just allowed Rui all the time in the world to take that shot.” said Redick.
Jake LaRavia, 24, led the Laker bench in scoring with 14 points and talked about how unselfish James is with his streak coming to an end. “He’s such an unselfish player to where I think you know he’s just playing the game of basketball and again he had the opportunity to do that but the player he is and just who he is as a person made the unselfish play, passed it to Rui and you know we won the game.”
Scottie Barnes had a near triple double of 23 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists for the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors in the loss.
The Lakers will play the Celtics at Boston Friday night, while the Raptors will look to bounce back against the Hornets Friday night in Toronto.