Win streaks have come few and much between for the Magic in recent times.
But heading into Tuesday evening’s house matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando discovered itself within the midst of one among its most spectacular stretches within the final decade.
The Magic had received eight of their final 9 video games, with six of these wins coming towards opponents at present in playoff or play-in place because the roster’s youthful gamers continued to indicate enchancment.
Following loads of robust competitors, the scenario appeared encouraging because the Magic confronted off towards the struggling Lakers.
But the Magic couldn’t maintain their success rolling, falling 129-110 to the Lakers (14-20) in entrance of a Magic house file crowd of 19,482.
Orlando discovered itself trailing within the first quarter after a sluggish begin offensively and was unable to get better. The Magic put collectively a few runs because it settled in, however Los Angeles maintained a powerful lead for a lot of the sport as pictures continued to fall.
The Magic (13-22) had no solutions for star ahead LeBron James, who completed with 28 factors on 50 % capturing together with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. James repeatedly stepped as much as take management of the sport in key moments.
“You have to give the Lakers a ton of credit,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley mentioned. “They came out and they hit us early. They put the pressure on; they attacked in transition.”
Orlando did see a powerful efficiency from guard Markelle Fultz, who put up 16 factors with 3 rebounds and three assists to guide the workforce in scoring, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient.
The Magic have been additionally not capable of depend on the same old output that they’d come to anticipate from rookie ahead Paolo Banchero, who logged simply 22 minutes after ending up in foul hassle.
Banchero had been averaging practically 22 factors per sport earlier than placing up simply 4 factors on 1-of-6 capturing towards the Lakers.
“He’s a competent young man and his teammates will lift him up. We will lift him up,” Mosley mentioned. “These are the experiences that all young players are gonna have to go through so he can look back and reflect on these situations.”
After placing up loads of factors in latest video games, the Magic missed seven of their first 9 pictures and turned the ball over thrice within the opening minutes, giving the Lakers an opportunity to construct a 6-point lead by the top of the primary quarter.
Orlando continued to flounder offensively as halftime neared, failing to discover a constant method to generate factors. Los Angeles, in the meantime, managed to carry onto a gentle lead because of a stable efficiency from past the arc. The Lakers made 36% of their first-half 3-point makes an attempt because the Magic struggled to include them from deep.
Los Angeles led by as a lot as 16 earlier than Orlando was capable of get happening offense late within the half. The Magic put collectively a 9-0 run as pictures lastly started to fall, partly because of a number of spectacular strikes beneath the basket by Fultz.
“I think we were just getting caught up in all the wrong things tonight,” Fultz mentioned. “Which is frustrating, but at the same time we’ve got to learn from it and keep it moving.”
The Magic managed to chop the deficit to 10 by halftime.
Coming out of the half, Orlando regarded rather more comfy on offense and was capable of briefly make issues aggressive. A few good pictures by ahead Bol Bol spurred what changed into a 9-1 run for the Magic, chopping the Lakers’ result in 5 halfway by way of the third quarter.
But following six straight factors by James, the Lakers retook a double-digit lead and by no means regarded again. As the second half devolved right into a shootout, Orlando was unable to do sufficient to interrupt by way of.
The Magic will look to bounce again on Wednesday at Detroit for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
“In order to be a good team and improve, you’ve got to learn from the things that you did,” Fultz mentioned. “We’ve gotta shake it off and let it be motivation for the next one.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com