Monday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic wasn’t exactly a work of art. The Lakers seemed to play at half intensity and half speed throughout, while the Magic were primed to pull off an upset.
The Lakers took an 11-point advantage early in the second quarter, but because of turnovers and untimely fouls, they gave up their lead and trailed by four at halftime. As has been the case in their first three games, they couldn’t defend the 3-point line: Orlando shot 44.4% from that distance while L.A. was 3-of-13 in the first half.
In the third quarter, Los Angeles was unable to shake Orlando, though much of the reason seemed self-inflicted. It lost in some key effort categories, such as rebounding, turnovers, second-chance points and fast-break points, but late in the game, it did just enough to escape with a 106-103 victory.
The Lakers’ big concerns — defensive rebounding, 3-point shooting and playing well when LeBron James is resting — remain. It is also clear they’re still out of sync, especially on the offensive end, as they had a number of unforced turnovers that resulted from players being a bit out of position to catch passes.
But at least now they can feel OK about themselves with a 2-2 record on the season heading into Wednesday’s contest versus the Los Angeles Clippers.