NBA Power Rankings: Blake Griffin trade shakes things up
By Daniel Lewis
Los Angeles Lakers. 23. team. 20. . . Previous: 26th
The Lakers helped the league have a fun Lakers-Celtics rivalry game for a change, with Kyle Kuzma scoring 28 points to lead his team to a 108-107 victory at home. The Lakers left with a win, but will have to work on their free throws, missing 10 of their final 17 free throw attempts to let the Celtics back in it. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed two free throws with five seconds left, giving Marcus Smart a chance to win it, but his 3-point attempt didn’t fall. They kicked off a five-game road trip with a win over the Chicago Bulls, 108-103. The win meant they improved to 8-2 over their last 10 games, and they got there against the Bulls in part to Brandon Ingram’s 25 points, as the sophomore forward caught fire down the stretch.
The Lakers weren’t able to overcome the Raptors in Toronto, with Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle both scoring a team-high 17 points in the game. “We just didn’t play well enough to win against a team like this on the road,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “We didn’t make shots. You’ve got to really go after it and get it. For whatever reason we didn’t play with that edge tonight and they made us pay for it.”