Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from the loss to the Orlando Magic

The Spectrum SportsNet Cable guys came out  to show out!

If you are not in on the running joke about Troy Daniels and Quinn Cook, here’s the joke. For about a month during the season, Lake Show Life used to say these two were so far down on the Lakers bench they watched the games on cable, Spectrum Sports Net.

With Caruso out for the night, Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels put on a shooting exhibition. They were so good, they deserve analysis separately.

Troy Daniels:

We will start with Troy Daniels who is the last guy on the bench. For the last few games, his attitude has changed. Maybe it’s his status on the team with the Darren Collison rumors or just angry over his minutes. He doesn’t care anymore. He just fires them up now. It’s so much fun to watch an angry shooter. It really helps their focus.

Check out the play of the night. No, those Aaron Gordon dunks aren’t it.

Sidebar for a second. That block on Terence Ross’ dunk was the block of the year. Let’s just send the award to JaVale now. Now back to Troy Daniels. Did you see him drop that Magic defender then knock down that shot from distance? Notice the look on his face. Stone cold swagger. Love to see it.

In 21 minutes, Daniels scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4-of-5 from the land of the extra point!) and a team high plus/minus +23. To be clear, when LeBron missed that 3-pointer late, Troy Daniels wanted that shot. Believe it.

Quinn Cook:

Quinn Cook led the team with a season-high 22 points. Let that sink in real quick. Yes Los Angeles Lakers fans, the smallest player on the roster decided to show out in this game as well. He has been on a shooting tear as well, he’s just not as moody as Troy.

In 25 minutes, Cook shot 9-of-14 from the field (4-of-7 from the 3-point line) and just found crevices in the Magic defense to get his shot off.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1217679398331023360

Cook was second on the team in plus/minus with a +17. He looked like the player that contributed in the NBA Finals last year. It’s not clear if he will be on the team past the trade deadline, but if not, a playoff contender will definitely pick him up. His confidence is growing. For the last few games, he is playing like he belongs in the rotation.

Frank Vogel has some work to do. If these two players keep playing like this, he’s going to have to start convincing Rajon Rondo to increase his DNP-CD collection.

Folks, now it’s time to talk about the players who was supposed to be doing to job that Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels were doing.