Ugly game of basketball for the Lakers. Great night of hoops for the fans of the Magic. LA's lack of defense and effort was the main thing that doomed them in a 117-130 loss in Orlando's Amway Center. The Player of the Game honor goes to the Magic's Nikola Vucevic who put up 36 big points while pulling down 13 big boards.
Before this game even tipped off I thought it was one of those nights where the Lakers could give this one away easily from a lack of effort/respect for the opponent. During the pregame show, the local LA announcers remarked that the Lakers have only won once in Orlando's building in the last ten years. When the Magic haven't rolled out good squads post-Dwight Howard, I feel like visiting teams underestimate them. They think who cares about the shitty ass Orlando Magic? They've been pretty rancid all-around in the recent past, but this year they're beating good teams that underestimate them.
Well we just saw Philly just get clapped last week by Orlando the same day they received perennial All-Star Jimmy Butler. The Lakers were the next to take a loss from this feisty Orlando squad. Check out the quarter-by-quarter recap below! I had some thoughts on the Laker's coaching situation in the takeaways section too
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Game Recap
First Quarter
The Lakers actually looked pretty good in the opening minutes despite my initial inclinations of failure. LeBron was aggressive, aiming to get to the hole and draw fouls. Brandon Ingram was off to a nice start with a couple pretty post moves that led to midrange baskets. All five Lakers on the court were pretty active defensively, challenging every shot en route to a 13-10 advantage over the hometown team.
After a Magic timeout, Luke brought in Tyson Chandler while keeping four starters in the lineup: LeBron, Lonzo, Ingram, and Kuz. If Rajon Rondo had a functional hand he'd have come in for Lonzo by now(along with the rest of the second unit). Luke eventually subbed out a bunch of starters for the bench mob who were led by Lonzo at the point guard slot. It was his first taste of action with great responsibility post-Rondo injury.
The Lonzo-led unit got some pretty decent looks from the get-go, but they were struggling with defensive rebounding (Tyson Chandler was the only Laker above 6'6 on the floor). Orlando took advantage with a couple tip-away rebounds to keep possessions alive. Despite that, Kentavius Caldwell Pope and Lance Stephenson did a nice job of collecting buckets for the visitors. They carried the momentum instilled by the starters into a 31-27 after one quarter of play.
Second Quarter
Luke rolled out a lineup of Ingram, Hart, McGee, Lance & KCP to kick off the second with Ingram running point. Orlando started to FEAST on this lineup though, charging back to retake the game 34-32. That was enough funny business to justify bringing LeBron back in.
As LeBron attempted to make his mark, the Magic stayed one step ahead to maintain a four-point lead 44-40. While LA was still looking for their collective rhythm, the Magic stayed unbothered. They were just way more active on the defensive boards and it showed in their 44-40 lead. LA was also not taking care of the basketball, turning it over eight times with four minutes left in the half. A Magic three pushed it all the way up to an eight-point lead 50-42 as the Lakers scrambled to find a solution, but the true problem was in their defense.
Out of all the people struggling to find their shot, Kuzma was struggling the hardest. It seemed like he'd get the ball and then turn it over every god damn time. You could tell he was frustrated, but that anger culminated in a FAT dunk assisted by LeBron to cut the Magic lead to five 48-53. When the final buzzer of the first half rang, LA was starting at a nine-point hole 53-62. The Magic straight up outplayed them, and the turnovers weren't helping LA's case.
Third Quarter
It was more of the same to start the third. Bad defense and a lack of rebounding led Orlando to strengthen their lead to fifteen 70-55. There was no spark on the Lakers end. No pep in their step whatsoever.
Right as I started cursing the Laker's name, Brandon Ingram and LeBron came out with six straight points to cut the Magic lead to nine. LeBron then came up with a breakaway dunk that sent the crowd on their feet, but that sent Magic center Nikola Vucevic into beast mode. He was cleaning up bricks with followup dunks and bullying the Lakers down low for way-too-easy baskets left and right. And then the three-pointers started to fly again to push the Magic lead all the way up to eighteen.
That inspired LeBron to take the initiative on offense, but defense was still another story. DJ Augustin was also having the game of his life, killing the Lakers off of hard drives to the hoop. When the third concluded the Magic lead found itself all the way up to nineteen 100-81. Just a weak third quarter on the part of LA, especially defensively. It didn't help guys like Kuz couldn't get their shots to fall. They had twelve minutes to change something or else it'd be another L on their record.
Fourth Quarter
And it was looking like another fat L coming in hot. Orlando pushed their lead past twenty 88-109. It was so bad Luke even let Michael Beasley play(who hasn't gotten any time his year). The third stringers were running the show, and unless they made a run the starters weren't coming back in for this one.
But When things began to feel hopeless, the Lakers went on a 9-0 run! All of the sudden it was a ballgame. Brandon Ingram led the charge running point while players like Lance secured the buckets. It was an 11-point game 103-114 with five minutes to play.
But the rally proved to be too little too late. We did get a Moritz Wagner sighting though. The Lakers hobbled first-round pick made his NBA debut on the Magic home floor with the game's fate already decided. I'm surprised it has taken Luke this long to roll out Moe. He must've looked really shaky in practice. The only shot he fired up bricked hard off the back rim. When all was said and done the Magic walked away with the W 130-117. That big third quarter propelled them to victory.
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Takeaways
There aren't many specific takeaways I can gather from this specific loss. The same things that killed the Lakers all year killed them once again. Defense & rebounding, both of which live and die by effort. It was present in stretches on Saturday, but not enough to pull off a win against a beatable team.
I was talking with @thesportsguru after this loss. Our first questions was why the hell didn't Luke Walton put LeBron back in with five minutes to play and the team only down 11? That's plenty of time to go on a run! If he threw all the starters back in and they just gave a shit on defense, this easily could've been a tie game. Every game matters in this brutal Western Conference this year, they should be trying to win all of them.
That was just another questionable decision in a long line of them by Luke this year. He often experiments with bad lineups and struggles to adapt to opposing schemes implemented by superior coaches like Greg Popovich. I don't think this is all falls on Luke's though. Losses like this come down to the people who took the floor, but ideally you want to have a coach that the players respect and can be motivated by. The Lakers have struggled to maintain motivation all year. Ultimately I think that falls on LeBron. You saw how badly he wanted to win in that Portland game - and he dominated! The team put out an all-around great effort in a win against one of the conference's top teams.
I don't think he's going to be the Laker's coach long-term, but management will let him play the season out. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss is strongly against firing coaches mid-season, given the way her brother Jim Buss and former GM Mitch Kupchak handled their regimes. Back in the day, Buss/Kupchak fired Mike Brown after only four games back when the Lakers just got Dwight Howard. That might've been the right call in retrospect, but firing a coach initiates a serious adjustment period within a franchise. Doing it mid-season only makes the margin for error even smaller, and the margin is as small as can be in the ruthless Western Conference. Is it worth the risk?
Another problem about firing Luke is that there are few options in the coaching market. A couple names I can think of are Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson, and Monty Williams. Williams might be a good move if they're trying to lure and retain Anthony Davis(his former coach in NO), but the Pelicans have no inclination of trading Davis right now. He's under contract for a few more years anyway. Jason Kidd doesn't excite me, and neither does Mark Jackson right now. I think a Jackson hire could potentially be interesting, but the Lakers would probably consider that starting next season to avoid trials and tribulations of bringing in a new regime
If the Lakers management isn't willing to part with Luke Walton midseason, then maybe one thing they could do is look for some different assistant coaches to put next Luke. Maybe just putting some strong minds around Luke that could right the ship for a little while, and consider retaining them for the next regime. Maybe they need a savvy coaching veteran to tell the young Luke, "That's dum. Are you sure you want do that?" when the situation arises.
That's my take on the coaching situation. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments section and check out the highlights below
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