King James gets a royal welcome
LeBron feels love, Lakers deal Raptors 14th straight defeat
A pre-game walk around the Scotiabank Arena concourse showed white jerseys and gold jerseys and purple jerseys — some with No. 23 James on the back, others with No. 3 Davis, and so many with No. 8 or 24 and Bryant emblazoned above the numbers that they were impossible to count.
The local NBA side might be struggling through its worst season in more than a decade, but there’s something about the Los Angeles Lakers that can pull in the spectators.
LeBron James might have something to do with it, as the late Kobe Bryant did for the length of his Lakers career.
James, reviled in the LeBronto days when he and the Cleveland Cavaliers dispatched the Raptors from the playoffs year after year after year in the mid-2010s, has morphed into a local favourite in the sundown of his career.
He merely stepped on the court for a pre-game warmup and got a partial standing ovation.
He dunked during the layup line while warming up and the crowd erupted.
He threw a lob pass to Anthony Davis for the game’s first basket to more huge cheers. And “ah’s” accompanied almost every perfect pass he tossed for a Lakers basket. The respect is not lost on him. “There’s always been mutual respect, and love respect, every time I come here and play here,” James said. “Throughout my career they’ve shown me nothing to love, even throughout the battles in the post-season or whatever the case may be.
“These fans are always appreciative of myself, and I just try to always give it back to them when I step out on the floor.”
He finished with 23 points and nine assists as the Lakers drilled the Raptors 128-111, and the accolades continued with Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic.
“We’ve got to really embrace this moment and be grateful (to) live in the era of LeBron James and the way he’s playing out there,” Rajakovic said after the Lakers handed the Raptors their 14th straight loss. “I definitely don’t like (when) he’s playing against me, but I have a lot of respect for everything he does.”
A point of reference? James played his first NBA regular-season game for the Cavaliers on Oct. 29, 2003, about three weeks before Raptors rookie Gradey Dick was born.
All these years later, James is still going. He’s appeared in 66 of 76 games this season, trying to carry a suspect roster into at least the playin portion of the NBA post-season.
“Everybody’s trying their best every single night. We are fighting as much as we could, and he’s just so elite,” Rajakovic said. “It’s amazing to see a player at this age, after 20 years in the NBA, to play at this high a level. Like, we never saw anything like it.”
While James and the Lakers are chasing the play-in, the Raptors are trying not to set a franchise record for ineptitude. At 14, the losing streak is now their second-longest with tough games ahead in Minnesota on Wednesday and Milwaukee on Friday. They could set a team record of 17 straight losses at home on Sunday against the Washington Wizards.
The best thing to come out of the night for the Raptors was the return of RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley from nine- and six-game absences, respectively, for bereavement leaves and reconditioning stints.
They added a measure of legitimate NBA skill to a beleaguered Raptors roster, with some players forced into roles they aren’t ready for.
Barrett had 28 points, six assists and six rebounds. Quickley added 20 points and six assists.
They helped the Raptors look like a real NBA team when they were on the court, and also helped each other.
“It meant a lot, y’know,” Barrett said, who also played with Quickley on the New York Knicks before a December trade to Toronto. “During the whole process, we were constantly checking on each other.
“I’ve known (Quickley) for a long time. We’ve been together for like the past four years, so it was definitely hard to go through that. But having somebody like that to talk to sure helps.”