LOS ANGELES — With 2:28 left, the Lakers led by 16 and Luka Dončić went to the bench. With 43.7 seconds left, he was back on the floor, and the lead was five.
Dončić finished with 45 points, Walker Kessler delivered the dagger off a pass the length of the floor, and the Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 131-125 on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena to improve to 5-2. It was Game 7 of 82. The Lakers led by as many as 26 and were ahead for the final 45 minutes, and it still got ugly.
Luka’s hands set the tone
Toronto jumped out 5-0 and led 6-3 before Matisse Thybulle’s three tied it at 6-6 with 9:21 left in the first quarter. The Raptors never led again.
Dončić made sure of it. He had 16 points and four steals in the first quarter, four threes included, and the Lakers went on a 30-13 run to lead 36-19 before Toronto’s late buckets made it 36-23 after one.
The Klaw was out, the claws were not
Kawhi Leonard missed a fourth straight game with swelling in his left knee, and Jakob Poeltl was out too. Toronto still found a way to claw back in.
The Raptors won the second quarter 31-30, and they did it on the glass. They grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the first half, three of them by Scottie Barnes, who turned two into putbacks.
Then Los Angeles answered. The Lakers closed the half on a 15-8 run, with Jake LaRavia hitting back-to-back threes, Dončić drilling a 27-footer, and then Dončić pulling up from 29 feet with 1.3 seconds left to make it 66-54 at the break. He had 24 points at halftime and had made six of his seven threes.
It was Dončić bobblehead night at Crypto.com Arena, a giveaway the Lakers rarely do, and the real thing was putting on a show for a sellout crowd of 19,057.
A 26-point cushion
The third quarter looked like a victory lap. Dončić scored 13 of the Lakers’ 38 points in the period, Barnes picked up a technical foul, and Quentin Grimes hit a three with 1:33 left to make it 102-76. The Lakers carried a 104-82 lead into the fourth, and Dončić had 37.
Then the bench went in and the lead went out
Redick opened the fourth without Dončić, Kessler or Thybulle, and Toronto started on a 13-5 run. It was 109-95 with 8:10 left when the Lakers called timeout. Kessler and Thybulle came back in at the stoppage, and Dončić followed less than a minute later.
Redick was hit with a technical foul with 6:27 left and the Lakers up 10, and he looked annoyed on the sideline as the night went on. The lead grew back to 17, and Toronto pulled its starters with 4:21 left, trailing by 15.
Then Redick went to his bench again. With 2:28 left and the lead at 16, Dončić came out. At 1:43, Reaves, Kessler and Thybulle followed him. What came next was a 13-2 Toronto run over 1:44 against a Lakers lineup of Grimes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Bronny James, Cameron Carr and Jaden Hardy. Jamison Battle scored 13 of his 20 points in the final 1:13, including three triples.
By the time Redick sent Dončić, Reaves, Kessler and Thybulle back in with 43.7 seconds left, a 16-point lead had shrunk to five.
A pass the length of the floor
Kessler ended the suspense. Dončić threw a pass the length of the floor, and Kessler dunked it with 36.4 seconds left to make it 127-120. Dončić then made four free throws in the final 25 seconds to finish 13-for-13 at the line, and Battle’s dunk with 1.8 seconds left set the final at 131-125.
Dončić finished with 45 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and five steals on 12-for-23 shooting, including 8-for-12 from three. Kessler went 6-for-6 from the field with 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Twenty-four turnovers
The Lakers turned it over 24 times, and Toronto scored 30 points off them. Billy Mac told Stu Lantz to put his earmuffs on before announcing the number on the broadcast. Dončić had seven, Grimes four and Reaves three.
The Raptors also grabbed 22 offensive rebounds, outrebounded Los Angeles 47-45 and scored 37 second-chance points to the Lakers’ 18.
What Game 7 answered
After Friday’s collapse, Dončić said, “Everybody has to be better than this,” according to Field Level Media. Sunday gave a mixed answer.
Could the Lakers bounce back? Yes. They are 5-2, and Toronto fell to 3-3.
Could Reaves fix the turnovers? Mostly. He had three after eight in each of the last two games, though he shot 6-for-16.
Could the bench show up? Yes. Collin Sexton had 14, Sandro Mamukelashvili had 11, and the reserves scored 37 after seven on Friday.
Does a big Dončić night mean a win? This time it did. The Lakers are 2-2 in his last four appearances, and he has scored 175 points in them.
And could they close? Not cleanly. The Lakers led by 26 and still needed one long pass to put it away.
The Lakers host Miami on Monday night, the second night of a back-to-back and the fifth game in seven days, and they will want a cleaner finish.
Final: Los Angeles Lakers 131, Toronto Raptors 125
Notable Stats of the Game
Luka Dončić (LAL): 45 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists
Walker Kessler (LAL): 16 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks
Austin Reaves (LAL): 19 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
Scottie Barnes (TOR): 29 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists
RJ Barrett (TOR): 22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists
Jamison Battle (TOR): 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 three-pointers
Upcoming Game for the Lakers
Miami Heat (2-4) @ Los Angeles Lakers (5-2)
Date: Monday, November 2, 2026
Location: Crypto.com Arena • Los Angeles
Tip-Off: 7:00 PM PT