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

LeBron James did not play well in this game. The stats don’t matter.

Last year, Lake Show Life was critical of LeBron James for his listless play and lack of effort. This analysis is a little different. LeBron played hard and competed. He just didn’t play well and execute down the stretch. There’s a huge difference.

In 36 minutes, LeBron James scored 19 points and dished out, get this Lakers fans, 19 ASSISTS! The assists race is over and we can Fed-Ex that award now. What got him in trouble at the end was the 3 point shooting. He shot 7-of-19 from the field, but 2-of-9 from behind the 3-point stripe. Plus a missed free throw late hurt as well.

In the 4th quarter, it looked like this sequence was going break the Magic and allow the Lakers to escape but that missed dunk affected LeBron. It took the wind out of his sails. Markelle Fultz put him in the blender in crunch time that hurt the Lakers chances late.

But the disciplined defense of Aaron Gordon was the story. For most of the night, LeBron tried to bait him into reaching so he could draw fouls. Gordon never took the bait. He just kept James out of the paint the best he could. Nine 3-point shots is not the recipe for winning for the Lakers. Five turnovers won’t get it either.

LeBron just had an off shooting night. That happens. Kyle Kuzma though?