{"id":955322,"date":"2026-11-02T08:56:34","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T08:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955322\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T08:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T08:56:34","slug":"raptors-cant-slow-down-superstar-luka-doncic-in-loss-to-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955322\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors can’t slow down superstar Luka Doncic in loss to Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 He may be wearing a different uniform and going against his old team, but Sandro Mamukelashvili<\/a> \u2014 one of the NBA\u2019s all-time good guys \u2014 was more than willing to provide a scouting report for his old team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, that man is a (expletive) beast. Sorry for my language, but that’s the only way you can describe it, man,\u201d the former Raptor about his new co-worker with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>. \u201cLike passing, IQ, just tough shot maker. Like sometimes the stuff he does, it\u2019s like, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019 But then, \u2018wow\u2019, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first season in Los Angeles as the singular star after the departure of LeBron James, Doncic is putting the NBA\u2019s most decorated glamour franchise on his back and the rest of the league on notice.<\/p>\n

Like at the end of the second quarter when the Lakers have the ball with 9.7 seconds left. The Raptors have Jamal Shead pressuring Doncic he brings the ball up and then after a screen, hands him off to Collin Murray-Boyles, who has the size to guard the burly six-foot-seven Laker, and the foot speed too.<\/p>\n

But Doncic didn\u2019t seem bothered by that tactic, or anything thing else.<\/p>\n

Doncic sized up Murray-Boyles, gave him a couple of dribbles to hold him in place before stepping back and hitting a contested 30-footer.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t even his toughest shot of the first half. That would be the three he hit over the out-stretched fingers of long-armed Scottie Barnes<\/a> while falling out of bounds to his right that Doncic banked in off the top-corner of the backboard.<\/p>\n

And that wasn\u2019t the most notable indignity Doncic served up Barnes. In the third quarter the two stars got into a slappy, shovey disagreement, the referees bring an end to it by calling fouls on both. But that didn\u2019t stop Barnes from going chest-to-chest with Doncic and that didn\u2019t stop Doncic from backing the Raptors all-NBA defender into the paint and dropping a soft floater over him.<\/p>\n

Barnes had a strong game, finishing with 29 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals, but he had nothing on the Lakers star.<\/p>\n

It was that kind of night and Doncic is that kind of player. If he wasn\u2019t hitting one contested three after another, he was casually splitting a double team and loping into the paint before delivering a laser-like pass with pin-point accuracy directly into the hands of a teammate who could catch and shoot entirely in one motion, something he did more than once.<\/p>\n

He did it all while arguing with the refs and scolding defenders that dared challenge him.<\/p>\n

The result was a superstar providing what superstars are paid to do: a convincing 131-125 win that the Lakers (4-2) likely don\u2019t get without Doncic going off for 45 points \u2014 15 rebounds, six assists and five steals.<\/p>\n

The Lakers made some good moves in the off-season, among them signing Mamukelashvili who chipped in 11 points and three assists on 4-of-7 shooting seven shots in 23 minutes.<\/p>\n

But Doncic stirs the drink.<\/p>\n

He leads the NBA in scoring at 37.7 points per game and he doesn\u2019t have the luxury of doing it the easy way. He made eight of his 12 three-point attempts, all of them contested and self-created. The degree of difficulty? Beyond category.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s ready to go, he\u2019s unstoppable,\u201d said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, whose club dropped to 3-2. \u201cI believe every three he took tonight was off the dribble and at one point he was 7-of-8 from the three-point line. That\u2019s hard to do. There\u2019s not a lot of people on this planet that can do that, and he\u2019s one of those guys. Plus his decision making and understanding of the game and court vision? Outstanding, outstanding player.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Raptors did bother him to the point where he made seven of the Lakers 22 turnovers, but on the whole?<\/p>\n

Doncic was maybe the best version of himself the NBA has yet seen, which is saying something for a 27-year-old who already has six first-team all-NBA nods on his resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen him get 60 in a game before, so I don\u2019t know,\u201d said Raptors wing RJ Barrett<\/a>. \u201cLike a lot of people try, but when he\u2019s making those shots, like step-back threes, that\u2019s normally a shot that you want somebody to take. Like, he made eight threes, I think we obviously could have done a better job, but he made some tough ones.”<\/p>\n

To their credit, the Raptors weathered the early Doncic avalanche, even while playing without Kawhi Leonard (knee) and centre Jakob Poeltl, a late scratch due to bursitis in his left shoulder.<\/p>\n

The Slovenian star scored 16 points in the first quarter and went into halftime with 24 and the Lakers up by 13.<\/p>\n

But the Raptors had shown some flashes. A quick 8-0 run in the second quarter cut the Lakers lead to five before consecutive threes from Los Angeles squashed that attempt.<\/p>\n

In the second half the Raptors trimmed back their turnovers to three after the 12 they made in the first half yielded 18 Lakers points. With Doncic on the bench to start the fourth with five fouls, the Raptors took a run even though they were down by 22.<\/p>\n

An 18-5 stretch sparked by Barrett (22 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) cut the lead to nine before Doncic came back in. He scored in the post immediately, beating a double-team from Barnes and Immanuel Quickley and then when he couldn\u2019t beat the double-team to score, he lasered a pass cross-court that lead to an easy lob dunk by Walker Kessler (16 points, 15 rebounds, three blocked shots). The centre was acquired by the Lakers, at great expense, in the off-season to give Doncic the lob threat he has traditionally thrived playing alongside.<\/p>\n

Down 15 with 4:28 to play Rajakovic pulled his starters but inadvertently gave Doncic one more chance to shine. The Raptors bench unit caught fire against their Lakers counterpoints \u2014 no one more than Jamison Battle who scored 15 points in four minutes \u2014 and cut the Lakers lead to five with 44 seconds left.<\/p>\n

Lakers head coach JJ Reddick had seen enough and brought his starters back in, including Doncic, who had already untied his shoes. Double-teamed under his own basket Doncic threw a 60-foot pass to Kessler for a dunk and hit four free throws to seal it.<\/p>\n

1. They love Mamu too: About halfway through last season it was clear that the Raptors weren\u2019t going to be able to keep Mamukelashvili. They didn\u2019t have the flexibility under the salary cap to pay him what had earned. Enter the Lakers, who dropped four years and $52 million in his lap, and who could say no? <\/p>\n

Through the first few weeks of the season, the Lakers are glad he said yes: \u201cI think he’s even better than I thought he was just from being around him every day,\u201d said Reddick. \u201cHe’s obviously also a fantastic human being, but you know the size, the skill \u2026 he’s a really rare offensive player because he’s an advantage creator in so many ways. If he’s guarded by a five and he can pick and pop into space, that’s an advantage creation. He’s really good at follows and touch rolls so that’s an advantage creation. And then his O.5 decision making and his shooting ability and finishing ability \u2026 he’s an advantage finisher, and then on top of that, he’s also a connector. There’s very few offensive players that are all three of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Mamu says thanks: Before joining the Raptors, Mamukelashvili had never been part of an NBA rotation. He was given steady minutes for the first time and established himself and will always feel a certain way about his time in Toronto as a result. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’m grateful. Like I’ll never forget that,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Darko and the whole Raptors organization gave me a possibility to be here today. And even though it didn’t work out with them (contract-wise), like I’m so grateful that they gave me that chance to go out there and showcase what I can do and what type of player I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Another Poeltl setback: It looked like the Austrian centre had turned to the corner after a poor start to the season with his 12-point, 11 rebound double-double against Orlando on Friday, but then Sunday he woke up with a wonky left shoulder, went through his pre-game warm-up and then determined the range of motion limitations from what has been diagnosed as bursitis made him unable to play. He\u2019ll be re-evaluated Monday before the Raptors play the Clippers on the second game of their four-game road trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 He may be wearing a different uniform and going against his old team, but Sandro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-955322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}