Luka Dončić Scores 45 as Lakers Survive Raptors' Late Charge

Toronto forced 22 turnovers and turned a 24-point Lakers lead into a sweat in the final minute.

Luka Dončić scored 45 points Sunday night, and the Lakers needed most of them to hold off the Toronto Raptors, 131-125, at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers came in at 4-2, according to ESPN's box score, so the win puts them at 5-2. Toronto dropped the first game of a four-game road trip, Raptors On SI, Sports Illustrated's Toronto site, reported.

Dončić put up a line that looks like a typo. He shot 12 of 23 from the field and made 8 of his 12 threes, Raptors On SI reported. He also went 13-for-13 at the line and pulled down 15 rebounds, more than anyone else on the Lakers.

The eighth three left him one short of his career high, USA Today noted. He finished the night still stuck on eight.

He'd already made some history by then. No point guard in NBA history had ever put up five steals and five 3-pointers in one half, USA Today reported. No player since play-by-play tracking began in 1997-98 had posted 20 points, five rebounds, five threes and five steals in a half either, the same USA Today story said.

Then the cushion started leaking. ESPN's box score had the Lakers up 102-78 with 1:11 left in the third quarter. The final was 131-125, according to TheSportsDB, which means Toronto outscored the Lakers 47-29 from that point on.

Toronto made much of that run with reserves on the floor and got within five points with under a minute left before the Lakers pulled away, according to Raptors On SI. The Raptors finished with 14 steals and forced 22 turnovers. That's 22 giveaways in a six-point win, and Dončić alone had six of them by late in the third, ESPN's box score showed.

The team making that run was missing its center. Jakob Poeltl was ruled out shortly before tip-off with bursitis in his shoulder, Raptors On SI reported. That put Trayce Jackson-Davis in the starting lineup, and he played 9 minutes and scored 5 points while Toronto spent the night outsized.

The Raptors don't have to go far for another shot. They play the Clippers at Intuit Dome on Monday night, the second game of a back-to-back. They'll bring the same quick hands that turned a 24-point hole into a final-minute sweat.

Source: ESPN, retrieved November 2, 2026. Other sources: si.com, sports.yahoo.com.