Los Angeles Lakers vs Toronto Raptors Matchup

The Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors have been facing one another regularly since the latter joined the NBA as an expansion team back in 1995. Indeed, their first ever meeting came that year on 8 December, with the Lakers triumphing 120-103. Their head-to-head meetings often went the way of Los Angeles in those early years – the Lakers won 20 of their first 25 games against the Raptors – but in recent years Toronto have enjoyed much more success against them, including an 11-game winning streak between 2015 and 2020.

Their meeting on 22 January 2006 will live particularly long in the memory thanks to the legendary Kobe Bryant, who scored an astonishing 81 points against the Raptors – the 2nd-highest score ever recorded by a player in an NBA game. With the Lakers trailing by 14 points at half-time – and then 18 points early in the 3rd quarter – Bryant racked up an incredible 55 points in the 2nd half of the game, including 23 in the final 9 minutes, to hand his team a comeback victory that will forever echo in the annals of NBA history.