TORONTO – LeBron James scored 36 points to spoil a career-high 31 points and 17 rebounds from Toronto Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 128-123 overtime win that halted the home team’s five-wining streak on Friday.
Avery Bradley drilled in a 23-foot jumper with 32.1 seconds remaining in extra time and two late foul shots for the Lakers victory that ended their three-game losing streak.
Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. hit a 26-foot three-point jumper with 25.7 seconds remaining. But after two missed three-pointers from James and Russell Westbrook, the latter intercepted a pass from Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa and hit a three-pointer with 0.4 on the clock to extend the game to overtime.
Five Raptors hit double figures in scoring. Trent Jr. had 23, Fred VanVleet checked in with 20 points, followed by Achiuwa’s 18. Pascal Siakam chipped in 17 points.
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In a back-and-forth game that featured 24 lead changes and was tied 16 times, Trent tied the affair at 105-105 with a layup with 4:15 remaining.
Barnes then put the Raptors in front by two points with a crowd-pleasing dunk with 3:03 left.
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James was questionable with a sore left knee. But he started, played 42 minutes, scored a team-high 35 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
He wowed the 19,800 fans at Scotiabank Arena with a pair of thunderous dunks in the fourth quarter and two late-game three-point jumpers.
Trailing by four points at the half, the Raptors swiftly erased the deficit with a 5-0 run to begin the third quarter thanks to a three-point play from Siakam and a steal and subsequent dunk from Barnes.
Late in the third quarter, an offensive rebound from Montreal’s Chris Boucher and layup put the Raptors in front 89-88, entering the final 12 minutes.
The Lakers emerged with an early 15-5 lead thanks to a pair of three-point jumpers from Wenyen Gabriel and another from Russell Westbrook.
But the Raptors went on an 18-3 run to snatch a 23-18 advantage, only to see the visitors close the first quarter in fine fashion for a 33-30 lead.
Barnes scored his team’s first 10 points to open the game.
The Lakers, who dropped a 114-103 outcome to Toronto in Los Angeles on Monday, increased their lead to 59-48 in the second quarter. But the Raptors managed a 7-0 run to end the first half down by four.
James checked in with 12 points in the second quarter.
The Raptors shot a poor 7 for 12 (58.3 per cent) from the foul line in the first half.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2022.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
