The Los Angeles Lakers have one more home game left on this quick two-game set at home, Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic. It’s the last Lakers game at home before a long five-game road trip, tied for the second-longest trip the Lakers will make this season, beginning Saturday night against the Houston Rockets.
But before they get to that road trip where they will be facing teams in the playoff picture and the New York Knicks, they welcome a competent Orlando squad looking to make the playoffs for the second straight season.
At 19-21, the Magic are currently 7th in the Eastern Conference standings and they hang their hat on the defensive end, with a No. 5 defensive rating. A big reason why has been Jonathan Isaac, who recently suffered a knee sprain and will be out a couple of months. Another reason has been the strong defense at the point of attack by Orlando’s Markelle Fultz, who is something of a rebirth after two difficult seasons in Philadelphia to start his career after being the No. 1 overall pick in 2017.
Still, the Magic are making it work and staying alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race. With Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic they have [lawrence-related id=24975,24961]two strong scorers who can get hot, while Fultz had a career-high of 25 points just a few nights ago.
Although the Lakers trip has a lot of marquee matchups like the Rockets and Celtics, Orlando’s a team that can pull out a win if you let them hang around for too long. Even without Isaac and a couple of other key contributors.
[lawrence-related id=24970,24961]