Preview: LA Lakers @ Toronto Raptors

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Smush Parker is taking full advantage of his opportunities with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers hope Parker continues to emerge as they play the woeful Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre.

Parker has scored 20 or more points in three of the last four games, raising his scoring average to 12.9 points. He has team highs of 40 3-pointers and 37 steals in 17 games.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and Parker had 20 and seven steals to lift Los Angeles to its ninth straight win over the Milwaukee Bucks, 111-92 on Tuesday.

"This is more than what I expected," Parker said. "But I'm never satisfied. I'm playing well right now, and I want to continue playing well."

Lamar Odom added 24 points and Chris Mihm 13 as the Lakers beat the Bucks for the 18th time in the last 20 meetings.

"Smush did a great job getting his hands on balls," Bryant said. "We did a great job pressuring them."

Bryant went 14 of 24 from the field for his best shooting percentage this season, a game after making just 9 of 30 shots in a sluggish win Sunday over the Charlotte Bobcats. The Lakers shot 48 percent (43-for-89) on Tuesday.

"Right now, we need to focus on who we are as a basketball club," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before the game. "I don't live with expectations, so there's nothing there I can say I expected. We're just out here kind of treading water as a basketball team right now. We're neither hot nor cold, neither fish nor fowl."

Jackson said afterward the Lakers were still looking for confidence.

"We've lost a lot of games we should've won," Parker said. "Of course that deters our confidence a little bit. But these wins, if they keep coming, we'll get more confident."

The Lakers have won six of their last seven games against Toronto.

The Raptors had a season-high two-game winning streak snapped with a 119-111 overtime loss Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.

Chris Bosh scored 27 points, and Morris Peterson had 21 for the Raptors, who were denied their first three-game road winning streak since February 2004. After a 1-15 November, Toronto opened this month with wins at Atlanta and New Jersey.

STANDINGS (through Dec. 6): Lakers - 4th place, 4 GB, Pacific Division. Raptors - 5th place, 5 1/2 GB, Atlantic Division.

PROBABLE STARTERS: Lakers - F Brian Cook, F Odom, C Chris Mihm, G Parker, G Bryant. Raptors - F Peterson, F Bosh, C Rafael Araujo, G Jalen Rose, G Jose Calderon.

TEAM LEADERS: Lakers - Bryant, 32.2 ppg; Odom, 10 rpg and 5.9 apg. Raptors - Bosh, 21.7 ppg and 10 rpg; Calderon, 6.5 apg.

2004-2005 SEASON SERIES: Tied, 1-1.

LAST MEETING: Feb. 27; Raptors, 108-102. At Toronto, Rose scored 26 points, including eight straight late in the fourth quarter to lead the Raptors snapped a six-game losing streak to the Lakers.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Lakers - 4-4 on the road; Raptors - 1-8 at home.</div>

link:http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2005120728

 

im excited about this game..it should be a fun one to watch

 

By all means, the Lakers SHOULD take this one with relative ease. No one on that roster is going to be able to guard Kobe, so that's gonna give his teammates open looks all night long if he goes to them. Lamar is going to be another pain for Toronto, because no SF on that team is quick enough or athletic enough to guard him, so I'd look for him to take advantage of that as well. However, they still need to worry about Chris Bosh. He could give the Lakers frontcourt problems galore tonight. However, if he's all the Lakers have to worry about, than it'll be ok. Nevertheless, look for Kobe and Lamar to be huge tonight and for the Lakers to win this one relatively easily.

 

Well it looks like lakers are going with a line up of:
Bryant
Parker
Odom
Vujacic
Mihm

 

I feel sorry for Joey Graham: he's had to guard Lebron, Pierce, Kirilenko, and Kobe. 3 quick fouls on him. This is going to be a matchup of Toronto's forwards vs. Los Angeles' guards. I expect both Kobe and Bosh to light it up for a season-high.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I feel sorry for Joey Graham: he's had to guard Lebron, Pierce, Kirilenko, and Kobe. 3 quick fouls on him. This is going to be a matchup of Toronto's forwards vs. Los Angeles' guards. I expect both Kobe and Bosh to light it up for a season-high.</div>

He's a solid defender for a rookie, but he isn't ready to guard the elite players yet.

 

Lookin good. I liked that fake by Kobe that gave him the wide open shot in the 3rd quarter. Odom, Sasha, Kobe, and Smush are lookin good so far from what I seen

 

Toronto's defense is nothing short of horrendous. They are just so bad, they always let opponents shoot over 50%.

 

this game is over
Raptors played horrible
we honestly need a better C

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">
The Lakers only attempted one free throw in the first half. They have to start getting to the line in the second half. They can't expect to shoot 56% for the entire game.</div>You're right, they didn't shoot 56% the entire game....it actually fell to 54% when the final buzzer rang, ending the game. Talk about dominance, that's what this was. The Lakers KILLED them on the boards, 48 to 33, had assists on 28 of 43 made shots, held Toronto to 41% shooting, including a dismal 4/22 from the arc, and they did all of this with only one starter (Sasha) playing more than 29 minutes. The Lakers used everyone tonight, and had 7 people more than 21 minutes. That's what I call keeping people fresh. If the Lakers would have played Kobe and Odom more than 26 and 28 minutes respectively, this game would not have been nearly as close. Neverhtheless, great win for the Lakers, keeping the momentum going and did so without having to play the life out of their starters.

 

Nice win for the Lakers. Thats two on the road. I really like the way everyone got involved.

 

That Von Wafer dunk at the end pretty much summed up the tone of the whole game.

 

Good bench production. I thought I heard 40+ points from bench tonite? That's impressive, I hardly get 40+ with my bench on NBA 2K6.