The Los Angeles Lakers built up a 13-point lead in the second quarter, but thanks to strong bench play by Leandro Barbosa the Toronto Raptors lead at halftime, 58-55 at Staples Center. Barbosa scored 15 points off the bench, harnessing some of his old Phoenix Suns mojo, leading Toronto, who had their bench score 34 of their 58 points.
The Lakers held a 35-22 lead with 10:34 remaining in the second quarter, thanks in part to hot shooting. Steve Blake made all four of his field goal attempts, all three pointers, to score 12 points. Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 14 points, but didn't grab a single rebound in the first half. The Lakers, leading the NBA in rebounds per game, were out-rebounded 25-14 in the first 24 minutes.
Kobe Bryant made his first four shots of the game, passing Jerry West for second place on the all-time Lakers franchise leaderboard in field goals made. Bryant now has 9,017 field goals made in his career, one more than West. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the all-time franchise leader with 9,935 field goals made. Bryant missed his final three shots of the half to finish 4-of-7.
There wasn't much defense in the first half, as both teams shot over 50%. The Raptors made 24 of 44 shots (54.5%), including three of five from beyond the arc. The Lakers made 23 of 44 shots (52.3%), including five of 12 beyond the arc.
Luke Walton, who missed the first five games of the season with a strained right hamstring, saw his first game action of the season when he entered in the second quarter. Walton played two minutes and missed his only shot, a three-pointer.
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