Lakers at Raptors
THE STORY: With the Grammy Awards finally being handed out on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers will soon be returning to the Staples Center. First they need to finish up their six-game road trip with the Toronto Raptors. The Lakers are currently 2-3 on the trip after falling at New York on Friday and have averaged just 88.6 points in the five games. The Raptors managed to hold the Boston Celtics to 74 points Friday but are generally pretty easy to score against, surrendering 95 points or more in each of their last seven losses.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, KCAL (Los Angeles), TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (15-12): Los Angeles has not shot better than 42 percent from the floor in any of the last four games. Kobe Bryant has personally shot better than 40 percent only once in his last five games and has not reached 50 percent in any of the last 10 contests. Bryant once scored 81 points in a game against Toronto, and the Lakers have had little trouble piling up points against the Raptors in their recent history. In the last eight meetings, the Lakers have averaged 113.4 points. Los Angeles has taken seven of the last eight in the series.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (9-19): Toronto took advantage of a Boston squad that was clearly looking past its trip to Canada, easily dispatching the perennial contenders. The Raptors will need a similarly lethargic effort from the Lakers in order to overcome their own offensive woes again. Leading scorer Andrea Bargnani has missed 15 of the last 17 games due to injury, and Toronto has put up 86.0 points in the games he has missed.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Lakers are 4-10 on the road.
2. Bryant has averaged 27.9 points in 26 career games against Toronto.
3. Raptors PG Jose Calderon is averaging 14.5 assists and 0.5 turnovers in the last two games.