Lakers step up on the Raptors and take the advantage on the West

It seems like the Lakers are recovering quite well from their turn down against the Kings, as their victory over the Raptors can inject them with the energy they need for the 4 difficult road games they have ahead.

They will be facing the Hornets, Rockets, Mavericks and Jazz, the first 3 big contenders for the championship. Final score for the game was 117-108 with 34 points from Kobe Bryant , 20 for Lamar Odom, 18 for Derek Fisher and 12 for Pau Gasol who had a quite night overall.

Kobe scored 12 of his total on the fourth, much different than his performance on the same period against Sacramento where he managed to score only one point.

Bryant gave the Raptors a really bad time the last time they faced each other at the Staples center, as he scored a total of 81 points, and when he shot for 3 straight 3 pointers at the beginning of the match, it looked like things were heading the same way.

The Lakers were even with the Spurs with a record of 45-19 after their loss to the Kings, but with this victory over Toronto, Los Angeles are picking up an idle advantage of just half game over San Antonio.