Lake Show Life
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Los Angeles Lakers survive the Orlando Magic for second straight win

By Ronald Agers

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 28: Michael Carter-Williams #7 of the Orlando Magic passes the ball against Marc Gasol #14 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half of the game at Staples Center on March 28, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 28: Michael Carter-Williams #7 of the Orlando Magic passes the ball against Marc Gasol #14 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half of the game at Staples Center on March 28, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers fanbase was riding high as the front office landed the biggest fish of the buyout market in Andre Drummond. The rest of the roster tried to keep the party going by shutting down a very short-handed Orlando Magic team that just traded their best scorers away. 

If you are a Los Angeles Lakers fan, you are well aware that they have played so many overtime games that the roster might demand negotiations for time and a half salaries in the next collective bargaining agreement over the summer.

Frank Vogel has mentioned that the Lakers have a habit of having one bad quarter a game. It happened in the third quarter of this one and it almost cost the Lakers five more minutes of bonus basketball.

The Los Angeles Lakers survived a scrappy Orlando Magic squad, 96-93. They’ve collected their 30th win of the season and still hold the 4th seed with a 1.5 game lead over the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Montrezl Harrell is in a zone right now Lakers Nation!

Harrell has been on a scoring tear topping the 20 point plateau in seven of the last ten games. Lake Show Life has been observing that most of the points were coming in blowouts and huge Lakers deficits. That narrative changed in Friday’s win over Cleveland and continued against Orlando.

Montrezl Harrell continued to feast from the left side of the floor and the dunker’s spot early scoring 12 points in the first half on 5-6 shooting. We can all thank Alex Caruso for assisting Harrell’s hot start.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1376365074407952384

The Los Angeles Lakers defense is elite!

At this point, the Lakers’ defensive rankings are all over the place. Whether you believe advanced stats or the eye test the fact still remains this defense is the sole reason the Lakers have a two-game winning streak. The first half was amazing, but the defensive spurt in the last eight minutes carried this team to a win. Frank Vogel is reminding everyone why this franchise hired him last year.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The Orlando Magic offense in the first half!

Look, the Los Angeles Lakers basically had to take the hands off the wheel AND fall asleep to lose this game. Orlando should have never made this game close. This game should have been lost at the trade deadline on Thursday.

  • They traded their leading scorer in Nikola Vucevic to the Chicago Bulls.
  • Then Aaron Gordon was sent packing to the Denver Nuggets. It seems that he is settling in quite well with his teammates.
  • Finally Terrence Ross was held out of the game with a sore knee.

Despite a 13-5 run just before halftime, Orlando had only 39 points at intermission.

The Los Angeles Lakers second-half start!

Remember the awful Magic offense you just read about? Well, the Lakers fell into that ongoing habit of allowing opponents to go crazy after halftime. Orlando started the third quarter with a 7-2 run to tie that game forcing Frank Vogel to call time out. Then the Lakers woke up and answered with a 12-5 run to right the ship.

But the Lake Show allowed Orlando to stick around getting outscored 30-25 climaxed by an Otto Porter Jr. 3 pointer with 0.4 seconds left.

https://twitter.com/OrlandoMagic/status/1376379561865265152

At the end of the game, he almost did a repeat performance sending the game into overtime missing by a few inches.

Since LeBron James got injured, the Lakers have been hampered with at least one really bad quarter in each of their recent losses, especially in the third. It doesn’t matter if Andre Drummond is in the lineup or not, this has to be cleaned up.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The Lakers played with fire and almost got burned!

In the NBA there’s a saying… “Great teams find a way to win and bad teams find a way to lose.”  This game was a perfect example of this phrase. The Lakers allowed the Magic to hang around until late in the game before putting them away. What got them off the hook?

  • Dennis Schroder using his experience and savvy to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. He basically banished Chasson Randle to the bench baiting him into fouls.
  • His collaboration with Montrezl Harrell in running the pick-and-roll set up mid range jumpers and he burned Orlando time after time. The Menace finished with 24 points (12 in the 4th quarter), 5 rebounds and 6 assists.  Speaking of Montrezl Harrell…
  • Montrezl Harrell’s interior presence won this game. Whether it was scoring down low or getting offensive rebounds late (He finished with 4!) or providing strong defensive intensity, Trezl continues to be the heartbeat of this team. He finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. 
  • Kyle Kuzma is still trying to find the balance between being that first option scorer and the all-around player he has evolved into. He didn’t shoot great from beyond the arc, but he scored huge huge buckets when the Lakers needed it ending a 12-1 Lakers charge seen above to take the lead late. He finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Lake Show Life knows the story of the day is not this game. The story happened hours prior off the court.

The Los Angeles Lakers got their man!

For the first time in quite a while, readers of this website worried more about the trade deadline than the games this past week. When the Lakers did not make a move to acquire Kyle Lowry, all eyes were on Rob Pelinka to deliver Andre Drummond to Lakers Nation. Well as Lake Show Life usually say, “In Rob we trust!”

As of 5:00 PM EST, Andre Drummond was officially signed as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Now that he’s in the fold, life in the NBA has gotten so much more interesting.

For more in-depth analysis of Andre Drummond going forward, Lake Show Life has you covered with a couple of reports below.

Enjoy the next few days celebrating the Andre Drummond signing. The Milwaukee Bucks are next and it starts a tough stretch for the Los Angeles Lakers in the month of April.

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