while Lamar Odom had three. Jordan Farmar had two and Coby Karl and Sasha Vujacic had one each.

The 15 three' by an opponent were a season-high by a Raptors opponent, but it's not as if teams have suffered that badly against Toronto in this category. It's just that usually the Raptors are either right with them or ahead negating the impact.

That wasn't the case last night.

"They made three-point shots, but we knew we would have to give up something," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said.

"I thought we really contested the three most of the night, except for a couple of times when they got their feet set."

The Lakers came into the game tied for eighth in three-point shooting in the Association, a statistical category the Raptors have ownedall season but you would hardly know it the way things unfolded.

The Lakers were hitting uncontested threes like they were 12-foot jump shots. At the half they already had hit nine of their 17 attempts for a ridiculous success rate of almost 53%.

They wound up shooting just over 45% from beyond the arc.

The Raptors, whose .406 shooting percentage from beyond the arc dwarfs the rest of the league, managed just four of nine in the half but a spurt in the third quarter got them a respectable seven successful threes by games end.

What the Raptors did well in the first half, and what kept them in the game, was their ability to get to the line, which has been one of the weaker parts of their game for