Kyle Lowry put on a show and had one of the most offensively efficient performances in NBA history with a season-high 41 points on only 16 shot attempts to go along with seven assists and nine rebounds.
Twenty of Lowry's 41 points came in the fourth quarter, and the Toronto Raptors needed every one of those points to put away the surging Los Angeles Lakers, who battled back from 19 points down to only trailing by five with 42.7 seconds to play.
Lowry scored the final four points of the game to seal the 114-123 victory.
"It was my time to go out there and be more aggressive," Lowry said after the game. "If it's taking the extra shot or making more shots or creating more shots, it's just a chance to go out there and play basketball. Playing in the fourth quarter is really fun."
For the Raptors, the win ended a two-game losing streak, while the Lakers recorded their third straight defeat and the 15th defeat in 17 games. Lakers coach Luke Walton, however, applauded his team's effort and thought that overall, the Lakers played a good game. The Raptors, however, had a couple of players that simply outmatched anything the Lakers could put together.
Compton-native DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points for the visitors and managed to provide tongue-in-cheek commentary regarding his backcourt mate's impressive night.
"He could have had more," DeRozan said about Lowry's point total. "I think he missed a couple easy, maybe four or five shots he should have made, but I'm not mad at the percentage."
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The Lakers, however, had a few notable performances of their own. Nick Young continued his recent hot shooting from distance, making 7-9 from beyond the arc. With the seven makes, Young set a new franchise record with 36 three-pointers over games. Along with making all those triples, Young is also shooting 56.3 percent from long range over the record breaking stretch.
Young finished with 26 points in the loss.
Young's backcourt mate, D'Angelo Russell, led the Lakers in scoring on the night with 28 points and made six of his 12 three-point attempts. Russell scored 14 points in the final quarter and played a major role in the Lakers' attempted comeback.
However, when the final buzzer rang out at Staples Center, the Lakers fell to 12-25 on the season and sat only half a game out of last place in the Western Conference. Somehow, LA is still only four games out of the eighth and final playoff spot, which highlights that the final playoff team in the Western Conference could be any team that gets its act together.
Following Sunday's loss, the Lakers are an arm length away from the playoffs and a fingernail away from bottom of the West.
Next, the Lakers host the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.
