Toronto Raptors: 3 takeaways from impressive 107-92 win over Lakers

2) Defence remains the most impressive element of Raptors’ play

No matter how much it plays second fiddle to the flair of offence, we all know how important defence is to winning a championship. There is no denying it played a key role in the Raptors’ run to glory last season.

Amazingly this season, even without Leonard, the Raptors seem to be even better when defending the rock. There is no doubt the players how bought into Nurse’s game plan and philosophy, with everyone working hard and showing great discipline on the court.

The results are best exemplified by the Raptors allowing the fewest points per contest as noted in the standings following Saturday’s slate of games. In addition, they have the second-best defensive rating in the NBA, behind only the Milwaukee Bucks.

This dominating defence continued on Saturday against the Lakers, and it made for impressive reading. Los Angeles shot a season-low 35.4 percent from the field, including just 10 of 40 from downtown.

To really get an idea of how suffocating the Raptors’ defence was, look no further than how they contained the Lakers’ big two of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. James might have had a team-high 20 points, but this was still more than five points below his season average as he failed to influence the game.

The Raptors did an even better job on Davis, who was double-teamed and constantly harassed. He was held to just seven shots and only scored 14 points, which was effectively half of his season average.

James tried to downplay how the game went, saying the Lakers got the open looks and shots they wanted, but just didn’t hit them. However, he perhaps inadvertently alluded to the Raptors’ influence, by saying it was tough to make their shots.