The Los Angeles Lakers got back into the win column on Sunday after losing three of their last four games with a victory over the Orlando Magic. However, they didn’t look impressive.
Los Angeles fell behind early, and although it went ahead by double digits in the second quarter, it was unable to capitalize on that advantage. Instead, it allowed Orlando to chip away and make things very competitive throughout the fourth quarter.
Luckily, for the Lakers, Austin Reaves had the game of his life.
He helped give them their initial lead in the first half, and down the stretch, as the Magic threatened to hand L.A. its third straight loss, he powered his team and got it a 111-105 win.
The win put the Lakers back into 10th place in the Western Conference while bringing them to within 1.5 games of the sixth-place Dallas Mavericks. They will face a stiff challenge on Wednesday when the Phoenix Suns, sans Kevin Durant, will come to town.
After playing absolutely dominant ball for much of his first 24 games of the season and a good part of February and early March, Davis has lost steam.
He scored just 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and he continued to struggle from the charity stripe by going 3-of-6 on free throws. It was the third time in his last five games he failed to reach the 20-point mark.
Unlike in the last few games, he wasn’t facing constant double teams with or without the ball. However, the Magic were able to force some turnovers against Davis both on passes to him and when he looked to take his defender off the dribble. He finished the game with five turnovers, which was one-third of L.A.’s total.
Still, the Lakers’ superstar big man did have 11 rebounds, and he made an impact defensively with four blocked shots and two steals, which shows his value to the team even when he isn’t playing up to his standards offensively.
Vanderbilt took on the task of guarding Paolo Banchero, and through three quarters, he didn’t do a good job, as Panchero shot 7-of-15. However, the Magic rookie shot just 1-of-5 in the decisive fourth quarter.
On the boards, Vanderbilt did an excellent job with 10 rebounds, and he also added two assists in 23 minutes. He scored just one point and made his only shot attempt, but his value to the Lakers isn’t really predicated on how many points he scores.
Brown has been on point with his outside shooting for the last couple of months. He went 4-of-8 on…
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