The Los Angeles Lakers host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, Nov. 1, with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler all expected to play. It is a sharp turn into a 4-game slate after both teams lost in the NBA Cup on Friday, and it gives the Lakers a chance to extend a 4-2 start with more of their core available.
That is why the game is drawing attention now. The Lakers have opened the season with the second-best offensive rating in the league and the ninth-best net rating, a strong statistical start that sits beside a 1-2 record against the spread at home. They have covered only in their home opener against Golden State, which is the kind of detail that keeps a good team from looking automatic in the betting market.
Toronto arrives with its own numbers that matter. The Raptors won their first two games, then went 1-2 after that, but they still bring the No. 2 defense in the league into a road matchup where they are underdogs. That makes the trip more than a routine early-season test. It is a meeting between two teams that can sell themselves as playoff material, even if one of them has to do it without Kawhi Leonard for the next several weeks because of a knee injury.
Scottie Barnes is the player carrying the most weight into the night. He scored 41 points in Friday’s NBA Cup loss, added 41 and 28 points in his last two games, and has been asked to do a lot more than score. Barnes is averaging 24.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 46.3 percent from the field, but only 16.7 percent from 3. He has taken 34 shots and 17 shots in those last two games, which says as much about Toronto’s reliance on him as any pregame preview could.
The Lakers, meanwhile, get a cleaner version of their own lineup than they had on Friday against Golden State. With Doncic, Reaves and Kessler expected to be available, the question is less about whether the Lakers can score and more about whether Toronto’s defense can slow the pace enough to keep Barnes from having to force another one-man effort. If the Raptors can do that, they can make Sunday feel like more than an early-season stop. If they cannot, the Lakers have the kind of offense that can turn a close game into a long night fast.
Sunday is the first chance to see whether Toronto’s defense travels well enough to matter against a Lakers team that has already looked dangerous on offense. Barnes has done his part. The larger issue is whether the Raptors can make that 41-point outburst mean something in a building where the home team is expected to have more answers than it did two nights earlier.
