Sunday night’s action was eventful, to say the least, as the Los Angeles Lakers came away with a gritty 131-125 victory against the Toronto Raptors. With this win, the Lakers prevented a losing slide, improving to 5-2 on the season. Still, there aren’t too many positive takeaways.

Despite a phenomenal 45-point performance by Luka Doncic, which also featured some remarkable defensive work by the superstar, the Lakers barely came away with the victory. With the Raptors’ defensive pressure chipping away at L.A., forcing 22 turnovers on the night, Toronto almost had them. But is it really just about defensive effort?

According to JJ Redick, it wasn’t. Although Redick had already acknowledged the Raptors‘ defensive ability during his pre-game press conference, there were some factors that he believed were in their favor. While discussing the Raptors’ fouling after the game, Redick shared:

“We scored 131 with 24 turnovers… Some of those turnovers are because we’re like legitimately getting fouled. Like, it’s not like, ‘Was that a foul? Was that not a foul?’ I told one of the referees this because all these guys do it, all the on-ball defenders now.”

“What they do is they pick you up, and then they grab the arm you’re not dribbling with, and then they try to steal the ball from you. Famously, Cason Wallace did it with T.J. McConnell. That’s just the NBA right now.”

“It’s really hard when you, when you play teams like this that are just fouling every possession. I thought we did enough to play through it, but a lot of those turnovers are just that, and then you can point to some decision-making, some passes, all that stuff. Those naturally happen within the flow of the game.”

As JJ Redick mentioned, there were several instances where the Lakers were pressured into losing the ball. The closing seconds of the fourth quarter featured several plays where the Raptors would blitz the Lakers’ primary ball-handler the second they crossed half-court. While plays like these or the costly errant passes are undoubtedly a sign of poor composure, Redick seemingly calls out the officials for swallowing the whistle.

In many ways, this may come across as a biased opinion on JJ Redick’s behalf. However, there were some egregious moments that stood out.

A prime example was a missed foul call on Luka Doncic as he drove to the basket in the fourth quarter. Despite being dragged by Scottie Barnes on the drive, the official didn’t blow the whistle.

Luka Doncic scores a layup in the 4th quarter, giving him 39 points, and he cannot believe he didn’t get a foul call.
JJ Redick joins the protests and yaps in the ref’s face, receiving a tech.

With replays.

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) November 2, 2026

Even though Doncic went on to score the layup, the missed call garnered a heated reaction from JJ Redick, who, in turn, was assessed a technical foul instead.

Before Sunday night’s game, JJ Redick briefly shed light on how the Raptors get away with playing physical defense. According to Redick, Toronto sets the tone by establishing that they commit fouls and play aggressively early on, which sets the bar for officials. This earns them some leeway during the game.

While Redick’s remark may seem out of place, when factoring in that the Raptors averaged 28.2 personal fouls per game (the highest in the NBA) and the fact that they only had 26 on Sunday night, the head coach’s statement begins to make sense.

By the looks of it, this style of defending is becoming the norm in the NBA, and judging by the subjective nature of officiating, adapting seems to be the only viable option.

Thus, unfortunately, even though JJ Redick’s frustration with the situation and the challenges they bring is justified, the Lakers as a unit must absorb this pressure better and maintain their composure to prevent late-game meltdowns.