The Orlando Magic blew an early lead, as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to win 114-103 to extend the Magic’s losing streak to six in a row.
This season has been a rough one for Magic seeing the team slide to five straight losses, including a blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday heading into Monday’s matchup against the defending NBA champions, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Magic took on an opponent without head coach Steve Clifford for the second game in a row due to testing positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. Assistant coach Tyrone Corbin has since replaced Clifford as the acting head coach going forward going into Monday’s matchup.
It was a dismal start for the Magic trailing 28-16 after the first quarter which saw the team shoot a woeful 27% from the court going 6-22.
Things quickly started to heat up though as the Magic went on a tear in the second quarter outscoring the Lakers 40 to 22 to jump out the lead the Lakers 56-50 by the end of the first half.
Magic forward Chuma Okeke said he believed his dunk over Lakers center Andre Drummond in the first couple minutes of the second quarter ignited the run they went on.
“I feel that gave us a boost for everybody on the team,” Okeke said. “That gave us a boost to play harder than we were playing. That made us even more locked in.”
Corbin said he believes that after having a strong second quarter it gave his players confidence in competing against the reigning NBA champions.
“We started to believe that we can play with these guys I think,” Corbin said. “For young guys, it’s a tremendous thing for them to feel that energy of each and say, ok we can do this.”
The Lakers came out strong at the start of the third quarter and reclaimed the lead for the first time the first few minutes of the second after Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma scored a fast-break dunk to grab the lead 74-73.
The Magic had the last laugh though, as guard Gary Harris hit a deep three pointer from beyond the arc with less than 30 seconds left in the quarter to head into the fourth quarter with a slim 80-79 lead.
The first three possessions of the fourth quarter lead to back and forth three-pointers from both teams but the Lakers ultimately proved to be too much for the Magic as they were outscored 35-23 to lead the Lakers to a 114-103 come from behind victory.
Lakers guard Dennis Schroder helped fuel the late fourth-quarter comeback, scoring 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter finishing the 10 for 18 for 21 points and 10 assists.
The big question heading into Monday’s game was the uncertain play of Lakers forward Anthony Davis returning to the lineup recently after 30 games because of a right calf injury went 8 for 15 in 31 minutes of play and finishing the night with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Orlando traded much of its veteran power earlier this season. At the end of March, forward Aaron Gordon went to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for veteran shooting guard Gary Harris and rookie R.J. Hampton and Denver’s protected 2025 first-round pick. The Celtics acquired Magic guard Evan Fournier in exchange for two second-round picks.
The team also traded All-Star center Nikola Vucevic and forward Al-Farouq Aminu to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for center Wendell Carter Jr., forward Otto Porter, a 2021 first-round pick and a 2023 first-round pick, signaling a rebuild of the team.
Despite the losing effort, Okeke led the way for the Magic going 7 for 12 scoring 18 points, five rebounds going 3 for 5 from 3-point range.
With the loss, the Magic fell to 18-43 for the season after losing six straight and now have the worst record in the eastern conference.
The Magic will travel to the Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m.
