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Why couldn't this game be on at 12:30 like most Sundays? Because it's on at 6:00, NFL fans are going to miss the first half of the Vikings-Saints game, which kinda sucks. Still, any time the Lakers come to town is exciting, so I probably shouldn't complain.
The Lakers have a career record of 21-5 against the Raptors, which probably surprises none of you. They have the best record in the NBA at 34-10 even though they've struggled (by their standards) recently with a 5-4 record in their past nine games. Kobe Bryant has been playing through a fractured finger so his shooting accuracy is understandably a little off. Lucky for him, he's surrounded by some potent offensive weapons like Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom who are all capable of having a field day against the Raptors' tissue-soft defence. In comparison, the Lakers have the second-best defence in the NBA, allowing just 101.6 points per 100 possessions. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Raptors remain dead last with 112.7 points allowed per 100 possessions.
It's tough to say what the "keys to the game" are here. The Lakers are just so bloody talented that you pretty much need them to have a serious off game for a team like the Raptors to have a chance at pulling off an upset. If Andrea Bargnani has to miss his second game in a row with a sore back, the chance of that upset happening will be reduced from slim to almost none. So uh... let's go Raptors?
Start Time: 6:00 PM ET
Channel: The Score
Liveblog: theScore.com with James Borbath
Probable starting lineups
Toronto: Jarrett Jack, DeMar DeRozan, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Bosh, Rasho Nesterovic
Los Angeles: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Five questions
1. Can the Raptors continue their recent success against Western Conference teams in the Air Canada Centre? They've won their last five.
2. Are the Raptors better off encouraging Kobe Bryant to shoot because of his broken finger? He's only made 32.4 percent from the field over his last three games.
3. Can Chris Bosh shake off his last two disappointing performances against the Lakers? He scored just 12 points in each of the two Lakers-Raptors games last season.
4. Assuming Andrea Bargnani is still out with a bad back, should Patrick O'Bryant see some serious playing time today against the quick (for a big man) Andrew Bynum?
5. If Jose Calderon has a great game today, could it be the catalyst for that trade to the Lakers I've been pushing for a while?
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