Sluggish Lakers surge past Magic in final minutes – Daily News

by
Sluggish Lakers surge past Magic in final minutes – Daily News

LOS ANGELES — There were two main focuses entering the Lakers’ game against the Orlando Magic on Monday night: would LeBron James play on the second night of a back-to-back? And if he did, would his minutes be limited?

The other was the team’s rotation, with Coach Darvin Ham saying after Sunday’s road loss to the Sacramento Kings that he felt that’s something he needed to buckle down on.

James (19 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals) was available, playing 33 minutes despite playing 39 in an overtime loss the previous night. The rotation was more consistent from the first half to the second, with the Lakers getting significant contributions from Gabe Vincent (nine points on 4-of-7 shooting) and Christian Wood (nine points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots) off the bench.

And despite struggling with taking care of the defensive glass, the Lakers (2-2) grabbed them when they mattered for the most part, helping them secure a 106-103 victory over the Magic (2-1) at Crypto.com Arena.

“A lot of lessons learned,” Ham said. “Tough game. Tough situation. Tough team to face on the second night of a back-to-back, especially that first night being an overtime game. A highly, highly contested, highly emotional game on Sunday. But I’m happy we pulled it out. Had a lot of great moments. Different segments from different guys helped carry us across the finish line.

Even with the Magic’s significant advantages in second-chance points (20-4) and bench scoring (39-18), the Lakers’ efficiency in the paint helped them stay in the game.

Anthony Davis (26 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and three blocks) had a putback to reduce the Lakers’ deficit to 100-98 with less than three minutes remaining.

“I constantly tell him to be aggressive, be assertive,” Ham said. “He’s the captain of our defense. He’s back there holding down the back line, talking, active. Changing shots, blocking shots and coming up with rebounds. Setting screens, rolling hard. Not forcing anything, just taking his opportunities. Guys are looking for him. He’s starting to get into a really, really nice rhythm. An efficient rhythm, at that.”

The Lakers kept it close from there, with D’Angelo Russell (28 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with eight assists), knocking down a 3-pointer to put the Lakers ahead to stay at 104-103 with 1:43 remaining. Russell also knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Lakers a 3-point lead with eight seconds remaining.

“What you guys see is a team figuring it out,” Russell said. “This isn’t the product that it will be in a month or two from now. Every game matters. Every clutch situation matters. Every practice matters. So we’re figuring it out.”

Russell, James and Davis combined to score the Lakers’ final 30 points over the last 13½ minutes.

“We’re going to continue to get better,” James said. “I think we’re still a little trying to figure it out, which is OK. We’re four games in. We’re going to get a lot better throughout the season, but so far we like some of the things we see.”

The Lakers looked sluggish at times and grabbed only three offensive rebounds.

“It just shows a resiliency that we have as a team, but also knowing that if we get in those situations, we know what to do,” Davis said. “Guys are not rushing shots or making bad plays. Just doing what we need to do for our teammates.”

FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Chronicles Live is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – chronicleslive.com. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a Comment