It was an up-and-down rollercoaster of emotions on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. After being up by ten plus points, the Lakers fell into a sixteen point hole against the visiting Orlando Magic. They rallied all the way back to tie it in the fourth quarter - but a horrendous display of crunch time shot selection gave this very winnable game away to a young, potent Magic squad
Bad Shots. Turnovers (18). Poor free throw shooting (20/31). These three factors doomed the Lakers on this Sunday afternoon. It's the devilish Big Three that has been haunting them all year. Even since last season pre-LeBron.
Give the Magic credit for sweeping the Lakers in their two meetings of the year. Big props to Nikola Vucevic who heated up after a quiet beginning (31 pts, 15 rebs, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks). The Magic have been a surprisingly sturdy team to kick off the year. Their young stars in Vucevic and Gordon both have several years under their belt now, and they're surrounded by some good veterans. Maybe they'll turn the corner. I guess it's fair to elevate their franchise from the "bum" tier to the "slightly above the poverty line" tier. Check out the recap and takeaways below.
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Game Recap
First Quarter
The Lakers were looking great to cap things off. JaVale McGee was doing an excellent job of protecting the rim while Lonzo continued his aggressive streak from the past two games. They settled for one three-pointer in the opening possessions but other than that they were looking to kill the rim. LeBron didn't even do anything yet, it was all Lonzo, Kuzma and JaVale as the Lakers jumped ahead 14-6. It was a great start sure - but I had a hard time seeing them maintain this efficiency for three and a half more quarters.
JaVale came out scorching after the first timeout. Last time these teams met Nikola Vucevic made a fool of JaVale. McGee already had three blocks and a pair of dunks only six minutes into the game. While Vucevic battled down low, DJ Augustin started to FEAST for the Magic. The little guy was everywhere, dribbling all around the court and nabbing rebounds he had no business nabbing!
DJ was in an undeniable groove, but the rest of Orlando had yet to discover their own. They were starting at a ten point hole after one quarter of play, 19-29. Kyle Kuzma was on fire from the field (13 pts, 5/7 FG) while Lonzo looked great on both ends patrolling the second unit. His priority on attacking the rim was the real difference maker.
Second Quarter
LA's overall excellence continued into the first few minutes of the second. LeBron started to make his mark on the game with a crowd-elevating dunk and muscle-packed and-1 layup. He was really a non-factor in the first quarter which led me to think he told the young kids pregame, "It's Sunday, I'm not gonna go that hard in the first. Ya'll gotta figure this one out." And they answered the call! Lakers up by eleven 7:30 to go.
Then Vucevic got hot, the Lakers missed some free throws and they stopped taking care of the ball. Orlando cut it down to a three-point game off a Vucevic three-bomb with under two minutes to play. A DJ Augustin three tied it all up at 49 with under a minute. Then an easy layup put the Magic ahead, 51-49! LeBron had the ball for the last possession.
With the shock clock turned off, he stepped up and nailed a deeeeeeep three to beat the buzzer put them back up by one 52-51. Not the type of lead I wanted heading into the half, but a lead nonetheless. Some notable stats for the first half included six huge blocks by JaVale McGee. Kuzma and LeBron led the Lakers in scoring with 15 and 13 respectively.
Third Quarter
Orlando got their firm grasp on this game in the first few minutes of the third. Aaron Gordon was their catalyst, dunking and driving while draining 14-foot mid-rangers en route to a five-point advantage 63-58.
The Lakers had their backs against the wall as the Magic just got out and ran them off the floor. They all started falling into bad habits and they attempted to climb out of the 5-point hole. Brandon Ingram was settling for silly 10-footers in transition while LeBron jacked up bad threes without passing the ball. Thankfully Luke called timeout. Things didn't feel good though. The bad habits persisted as they found themselves in a 12-point hole with under five minutes to play.
They couldn't stop the bleeding though. Orlando was on a 23-10 run and LA's defense looked awful. To me, the obvious problem other than effort/communication was that they didn't have a traditional big man on the floor. Luke Walton finally brought JaVale back in with under two minutes to play and the Lakers down fourteen. They were just getting absolutely slammed in the paint. The defense fell off a cliff as the Magic jumped ahead by fifteen at the end of the quarter 86-71.
Fourth Quarter
The Magic continued their assault on the basket with dunk after dunk after dunk to maintain a ten point lead. Luke then brought in Brandon Ingram and Kuzma to spark up some offense, and thankfully it did, cutting it to a seven, point game 90-83. The Lakers were doing a waaaaay better job of securing defensive rebounds. It was a five-point game with 7:30 to go 92-87.
The Sunday crowd was ALIVE with the Lakers, pleading for them to play some god damn defense! The Lakers tried to rally but they just kept shooting themselves in the foot. The game was still within reach though as LeBron threw down a monstrous two-handed jam to cut the deficit to five 104-99.
KCP drained a huge triple to make it a two-point game 102-104, and with a LeBron trip to the line the Lakers tied it up at 104 with two minutes to play. They really kicked up their defense as Orlando struggled to take the lead back. With less than a minute to play, LeBron threw up a three to go ahead - but it bricked! Orlando had the ball and Terrence Ross got an incredibly uncontested basket with under thirty seconds to play. KCP threw up a three but it bricked hard....Orlando then got the ball in transition and got an Aaron Gordon dunk to go up by four with ten seconds to play. This one felt like it was over. Kuzma fired up a desperation three but it bricked. Ballgame. Magic win 108-104
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Takeaways
In terms of shot selection at the end - I'm fine with that KCP three that fell short. I just really don't like that LeBron step back in the final seconds. RUN A GOD DAMN PLAY OR DRIVE TO THE HOOP LIKE THE 6'9 BASKETBALL RHINO THAT YOU ARE. Given, he has settled and made that three a couple times in crunch time but I just don't think that's a good shot. He isn't shooting lights out right now, so I wouldn't lean on that when the going gets tough. These LeBron step-back threes at the end of games are a huge pet peeve of mine.
I would normally rip KCP's head off for daring to take that three at the end and miss, but he has been having a great last couple of games and played amazing defense. He got a huge steal at the end that gave them life, and hit a big three to cut the deficit to two prior to that. KCP is still alright in my book.
I wish Luke Walton would've had a big man like Tyson Chandler in while Orlando went on that third quarter run. I swear every time they started pushing us in the third, it was against a small ball lineup. If you watched the game and actually saw a big man out there most of the time let me know. I was watching the third intermittently between doing housework. They got outscored by 16 in the third by the Magic 35-19.
I would've like to see Lonzo back out there in the fourth quarter too. He didn't get any minutes in the fourth and he was having a decent game. The stat line wasn't indicative (9 points, 10 rebs, 2 assists, 1 block) but I think he's starting out how to figure out how to play with LeBron and this new iteration of the Lakers. The defense was there per usual, and he was making things happen on his aggressive drives to the hoop. I just think Luke would be best served to develop Lonzo by giving him these crunch time reps. The dude didn't play half the season last year because of injury and he doesn't even have 82 games under his belt yet. He needs more experience.
Shitty game for the Lakers but we still haven't crossed the 20-game mark of the season. I just hope they learn from their mistakes and tighten things up. Thanks for reading and check out the highlights below
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