LOS ANGELES — Despite Anthony Davis leaving the game early with an eye injury, the Lakers home winning streak on Sunday, picking up a 123-103 win over the Toronto Raptors at Crypto.com Arena.
With Davis absent for the final 17-plus minutes, LeBron James dialed up his intensity in the latter stages of the third quarter and early in the fourth, helping the Lakers turn a five-point deficit late in the third (77-72) into a double-digit (103-89) early in the fourth.
James finished with 19 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds for his second consecutive triple-double and third of the season.
“LeBron took control of the game and not just with scoring the basketball, coach JJ Redick said. Defensively, with his rebounding, his playmaking, really you’re in that situation and AD goes out and it requires more from everybody else.
James final assist to Austin Reaves (27 points, six assists) for a 3-pointer put the Lakers up 120-100 with 1:39 left in the game, with both teams taking out their main rotation players for the final 1½ minutes.
Ive always got a kick out of seeing my teammates succeed and being able to attract defenses and being able to read and just try to put the ball on time, on target, James said. Thats always been my basketball pleasure, being able to just kind of read the game and put the ball for guys to just to be able to just catch, shoot, layup, dunk, whatever it is.
The Lakers (6-4) have won their first five games at Crypto.com Arena.
DAngelo Russell (15 points) and Jaxson Hayes (12 points, six rebounds) combined for 27 of the Lakers 40 bench points.
Cam Reddish had 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in his second start after moving into the first unit ahead of Fridays win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Most of Hayes production came in the fourth, a quarter Davis usually plays the bulk of but Hayes filled in for.
Jaxson was amazing, Reaves said. Especially that third quarter on. He played probably one of his best games since he’s been here. Being active defensively, being a scorer in the pocket, rebounder. He did a lot of really good things.
Davis (22 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots in 26 minutes) was ruled out early in the fourth because of a left eye injury he suffered while blocking Raptors center Jakob Poeltl (14 points, 10 rebounds, four assists) midway through the third.
Poeltl hit Davis in the eye while Davis was blocking his dunk.
Davis immediately fell to the floor and was writing in pain before team doctors checked on him. He immediately went to the locker room and didnt return to the Lakers bench for the remainder of the game.
The All-Star big man suffered a corneal abrasion to his left eye last season on March 16.
“I just know that he got poked in it, Redick said of Davis. He was having trouble seeing. Obviously, taking a little bit of trauma to the eye, it takes a little bit of time to get your clear vision back. But other than that, no update.”
The Lakers, whove generally struggled without Davis on the court, raised their defensive intensity and focus in the fourth.
After giving up 12 offensive rebounds and 15 fastbreak points in the first three quarters, the Lakers didnt allow any of either in the final 12 minutes despite the Raptors entering the matchup as the leagues top team in fastbreak points at 20.9 per game.
The Lakers also took advantage of the Raptors giveaways, turning 18 Toronto turnovers into 20 points.
The Raptors were led by RJ Barretts 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Chris Boucher had 18 points off the bench for Toronto.
The Lakers three-game homestand will wrap up against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.