Lakers String Along Raptors

Champagne wasn’t spilled, caviar wasn’t consumed, but there was reason for some sort of celebration in the Laker locker room Wednesday night.

The Lakers won a third consecutive game, defeating the hopeless Toronto Raptors, 102-91, at Air Canada Centre, taking 18 games to accomplish what couldn’t be done last season until the final week of February.

It wasn’t long ago that not winning three in a row was newsworthy, but players change ZIP Codes, dynasties age, and the Lakers found themselves back at .500 after beating Charlotte, Milwaukee and Toronto.

“It’s a whole different season,” said Lamar Odom, who led the Lakers with 19 points. “We’re not trying to compare what happened last year to this year. We’d be wasting our time if we did that. But as a unit, to put together a string of victories is always good.”

The Lakers tried something else new. They put together a string of assists.

The Lakers had 28 assists in their first 40 baskets, a trend that took them well into the fourth quarter before play began to break down following a 22-point Laker lead.

Kobe Bryant had a season-low 11 points on five-for-12 shooting but contributed a season-high nine assists in only 26 minutes. Bryant and Odom didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

“Defensively, they tried to pack the lane,” Bryant said. “[I was] just finding open guys and they continued to hit shots. Next time we play them, we’ll see if their defensive strategy is the same. If it’s the same, I’m going to continue to do the same thing, kick it out to the open guys.”

Coach Phil Jackson again went with a small starting lineup -- Sasha Vujacic instead of Brian Cook -- and Vujacic responded with nine points, five assists and four rebounds in 30 minutes.

Then again, Vujacic was happy simply to be in Canada.

He forgot his passport in Los Angeles, and had his parents overnight it to Milwaukee. It arrived Tuesday morning, but was inexplicably forwarded to Detroit by the delivery company. Vujacic was told it would not be re-routed to Milwaukee until Wednesday morning.

The team charter jet left Milwaukee after Tuesday night’s victory, so Vujacic stayed and waited nervously until Wednesday morning. The passport finally came and he flew commercially to meet up with the team, arriving in the late afternoon.

“It was crazy,” he said. “I’m just happy we won.”

The Laker bench, maligned because of ineffectiveness and injury, was solid in a second quarter where a boost was needed to break free from a 23-23 score.

Cook dunked on consecutive possessions. Laron Profit hung in the air for a five-foot bank. Luke Walton made a 15-foot baseline jumper off a behind-the-back pass from Profit. Devean George took a rebound and scored -- twice. Walton scored again, off a snappy pass down low from Bryant.

Bryant was almost blanked in the quarter, but then made a fadeaway 21-footer from the wing as time expired for a 50-44 halftime lead.

Profit finished with 14 points and Walton had 13.

“It’s encouraging,” Bryant said. “We don’t focus on our bench being thinned out. It’s even more imperative for our second unit to play cohesively. They gave us a little cushion.”

The Raptors fell to 3-17, although it could be worse. A Canadian newspaper kindly pointed out in Tuesday’s editions that the home team, after a recent two-game win streak, was no longer on pace to set the league record for fewest victories.

Also suddenly less bleak was the outlook for the Lakers, who play Friday in Chicago for perhaps a fourth consecutive victory, something they didn’t accomplish last season.

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Before the game, when winning three in a row -- games, not championships -- could be talked about only in the future tense, Jackson discussed past Laker futility. “Last year’s team was erratic,” he said. “In the NBA, with the change of venue from night to night, you have to be relatively consistent.” ... The Lakers moved to 2-0 on a six-game trip that still features four teams with winning records -- Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas and Memphis.... Bryant passed Gail Goodrich for seventh on the Laker career list with his 2,864th assist, a pass to Odom for a dunk in the second quarter.