Dynamic Duo...

Toronto, Canada

North of the border in a cold packed arena, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to their fourth straight win. It was the second win since losing Andrew Bynum and the fourth game on the Lakers six game road trip. Although the Lakers played a clean game committing only 4 turnovers, it was evident that Bynum's presence was missed. The raptors scored 44 points in the paint with most of those coming by way of the dunk. As far as scoring goes, Bryant and Gasol continue to play strong, scoring a combined 67 points tonight to lead the Lakers over Toronto 115-107. The duo has now scored 159 points over the last two games. Those are pretty impressive numbers that would almost certainly lead any team to two straight W's. Heading into the fourth quarter the Lakers trailed 87-85. Kobe Bryant, led the team with 10 fourth quarter points to close out the game. It was the Lakers 12 such game, trailing at the end of three, and they are now an even 6-6 in those contests. LO and D-Fish played good minutes and contributed 13 and 12 points respectively. Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar led the bench scoring with 7 and 6. Los Angeles is now 39-9 heading into Thursday night's showdown in Boston. The Celtics own the leagues best record at 41-9 and have lost at home only twice all season. On Christmas day the Lakers beat Boston at Staples center 93-82.

The Toronto Raptors came into the contest on the heels of two straight losses and reside in last place of the Atlantic Division with a poor 19-31 record. The team came out hungry however, and jumped out in front of  Los Angeles in the first quarter to a 21-9 lead. Jermaine O'neal was a monster on the boards grabbing 9 boards to go alongside an impressive 9 blocked shots, 4 assists and 22 points. O'neal was a game time decision because of a sprained left ankle. After being fouled by Chris Mihm,  a hard slap over the eye that caused his headband to fly off in the first quarter O'neal really seemed to come alive. From that point on he was focused and seemed to be attacking the rim with the kind of energy fans got used to while he played for the Indiana Pacers. The raptors were hobbled a little playing without guard Jose Calderon (sore right hamstring) and losing All-Star Chris Bosh to a sprained right knee with 9:50 left to play in the fourth. Joey Graham got the start again for Calderon and made the most of it, scoring a career best 24 points for Toronto. Forward Jason Kapono, a UCLA alum, had zero points and missed the only three point attempt he shot on the night. He will however try and capture his third straight All-Star 3-point shooting crown in Phoenix. The three-peat has only been done twice by Larry Bird and Craig Hodges. Toronto coach Jay Triano was pleased with his teams effort saying after the game, "I thought we played well. I really applaud our guy's effort. I thought we played hard, we were competitive, we fought every possession and I am proud of our guys."