By Adrian Stewart Co
Los Angeles Lakers vented its ire on Toronto Raptors with a 110-101 beating in the 2020-2021 NBA Season on Tuesday night (Wednesday in the Philippines) at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Talen Horton-Tucker top-scored with 17 points, while Markieff Morris added 15 points and nine rebounds as the defending champions Lakers improved to 32-19 slate.
Marc Gasol, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso added 13 markers each, while Dennis Schroder and Davonte Cacok finished with 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Lakers.
The Lakers cruised to a lopsided victory despite the ejection of center Montrezl Harrell and the absence of injured players LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond.
The Lakers set the tone early with conversions from Gasol, Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma for a 40-28 lead. It grew further in the second period at 72-44 with baskets from Morris and Caruso.
The Raptors attempted to come close in the third period as it trimmed the deficit to 66-83 but the Lakers answered with baskets from Schroder and Davonte Cacok to bring the lead back to 20 points.
Pascal Siakam finished with 27 points, while Chris Boucher and Deandre Bembry added 19 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Raptors (20-31), which were without Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia 76ers (35-16) scored a 106-96 victory over Boston Celtics (25-26) to move up to a share of top spot in the East. Joel Embiid tallied 35 points for the 76ers.
In other results, Atlanta Hawks (27-24) cruised to a 123-107 victory over New Orleans Pelicans (22-28), while Chicago Bulls (21-28) notched its second straight win by beating Indiana Pacers (22-27), 113-97.
BOX SCORE:
LOS ANGELES 110 – Horton-Tucker 17, Morris 15, Gasol 13, Caldwell-Pope 13, Caruso 13, Schroder 12, Cacok 10, Matthews 9, Kuzma 8, Harrell 0, McKinnie 0, Antetokounmpo 0.
TORONTO 101 – Siakam 27, Boucher 19, Bembry 12, Trent 11, Flynn 11, Baynes 9, Watanabe 8, Anunoby 2, Johnson 2.
Quarterscores: 40-28, 68-42, 90-70, 110-101./ASC, WDJ