Recap: Lakers Romp Magic 111-95, Give Fans Free Tacos

The Los Angeles Lakers improved to 15-26 after blowing out the Orlando Magic in their second and final meeting of the season.

The 14-26 Lakers hosted the 16-22 Orlando Magic Sunday. The Lake Show looked to get their third straight win at the Staples Center, with the latest being their 127-100 shell-shacking of the Miami Heat. Meanwhile the Magic hoped to snap a two game losing streak, including a 100-93 loss to Houston on Friday. The last time the Magic and Lakers tangled, the Magic waltzed away with a 109-90 win. The Lakers were determined not to let history repeat itself.

First Quarter:

The opening frame was a nip and tuck affair. The starters played well, and then the bench came in and scored in double digits as well. LA also played opportunistic defense, getting 14 points on 6 Orlando turnovers. At the end of the first, Los Angeles led 40 to 34. Julius Randle had 11 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, and a rare three pointer in the closing seconds. D’angelo Russell added 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. Serge Ibaka had 9 and Evan Fournier had 7 to lead the Magic. The Purple and Gold shot 4-7 from three and 4-5 from the free throw line to finish a stellar first quarter.

Second Quarter:

The second quarter brought about a bit of a dry spell for the Lakers, who didn’t score for the first 2:50 minutes. The Magic started forcing the issue offensively, getting points inside and getting to the free throw line. LA started 0-7 from the field until a Thomas Robinson slam at the 9:27 mark in the quarter. It did seem like the Lakers got their mojo back with a nifty floater plus the foul for Lou Williams. The player who really made the impact in the 2nd was Thomas Robinson, who made his presence felt on the glass with 5 rebounds and was active around the paint. The moment of the quarter was a Jordan Clarkson one handed reverse slam with 5:55 left. The Magic chipped away momentarily, but the Lakers went into the half nursing a two point lead, 62-60.

Halftime Stats:

At the half the Purple and Gold held the lead, but it was still a close game, with 1 tie and 5 lead changes in the first 2 quarters. The Lakers had the edge in free throw shooting, which isn’t surprising since the Magic make the fewest free throws in the league (87.5% to 57.1% Lakers edge)The Lakers also led in steals, (4 to 1 Lakers edge) and had less turnovers (The Magic had 9 turnovers, the Lakers only had 5). On the other hand the Magic had the upper hand in rebounds (26 to 20 Magic edge) Assists (18 to 11 Magic edge) and three point percentage (46.2 % to 29.4% Magic edge). Both teams shot well from the field but the Magic shot better, with a 53.5% clip vs LA’s even 51%. Here are the individual points, rebounds, and assists leaders for both teams.

Los Angeles: Points (Julius Randle, 13) Rebounds: (Thomas Robinson, 5) Assists: (Russell and Randle Tied with 4 each)

Orlando: Points (Evan Fournier, 12) Rebounds (Bismack Biyombo, 7) Assists: (D.J. Augustin, 5)

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Third Quarter:

The Lakers started with a boom in the third, as it was the Magic’s turn to go into a lull, with only 3 points on 0-7 shooting thru the first 6 minutes of the quarter. The Lakers took advantage, going on a run that pushed the lead to double digits. D’angelo Russell was the catalyst of the Lakers surge, knocking down jumpers, spreading the wealth with his passing and playing a balanced floor game. In addition, the Magic doomed themselves with a season low 9 points in the quarter (on 2 FOR 20 SHOOTING!) The Lakers didn’t do much better (8 for 20) but they did enough to head into the fourth with a double digit lead, 81-69.

Fourth Quarter:

The Magic’s offense awakened with a little run to nearly bring the lead to single digits, but then Brandon Ingram hit BACK TO BACK triples to boost the lead to 15, the biggest the Lakers held all night at that time, 87-72. Ingram continued the onslaught, hitting a turnaround jumper over a smaller defender a minute later to boost LA’s lead to 91-77. Shortly thereafter, Lou Williams and Timofey Mosgov connected on what may have been the play of the night, with Williams making a pass between a befuddled Nikola Vucevic legs for the Mosgov slam. The Lake Show boosted the lead to as much as 18, but then started giving away much of it as the Magic cut the lead down to as little as 12. But then Brandon Ingram struck again, as Russell found him posting up the undersized D.J. Augustin. Ingram rose over him and hit the tough fall-away plus the foul to extend the lead. After that, the rest of the game ended neatly(with another scare with about 2 minutes left), with the Purple and Gold holding on to win 111-95, the 2^nd time in as many games they’ve taken a halftime lead and held it for the win. 6 Lakers scored in double digits, and the Lakers bench outscored the Magic bench 47-34. In addition, the Lakers defense combined with the Magic’s poor shooting limited Orlando to only 35 points in the 2^nd half.

Los Angeles Leaders:

Points– Julius Randle (19) D’angelo Russell (17) Brandon Ingram (17)

Rebounds– Julius Randle (9) Timofey Mozgov (9) D’angelo Russell (8)

Assists– D’angelo Russell (7) Julius Randle (5) Jordan Clarkson (4)

Orlando Leaders:

Points– Serge Ibaka, Evan Fournier, and Nikola Vucevic each tied with (19)

Rebounds– Bismack Biyombo (11) Serge Ibaka (10) Nikola Vucevic (7)

Assists– D.J. Augustin (8) Nikola Vucevic (4) Elfrid Payton (4)

Next: Julius Randle is balling out

The Magic’s next game is Wednesday against the Clippers. The Lakers next game is Tuesday against the Trail Blazers. Check into Lake Show Life for all the game coverage. Follow me @Corbantheman.

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