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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| MAGIC | 20 | 24 | 30 | 35 | 109 |
| LAKERS | 23 | 39 | 23 | 28 | 103 |
Recap:
LOS ANGELES -- The Orlando Magic aren't doing it with smoke and mirrors.
With Dwight Howard a power in the middle, Jameer Nelson and his backcourt mates' sharpshooting from outside, the Magic showed their multiple talents with a 109-103 victory over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
Howard had 25 points and 20 rebounds, and Nelson scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to help Orlando win its sixth in a row. Bryant had 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for Los Angeles, but missed two jumpers in the waning moments.
"It was a big-time win," Nelson said. "We were in Laker Town, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. It definitely was a playoff atmosphere. The intensity level was high and they came at us every play, offensively, defensively and on the boards.
"They were trying to out-tough us, but we got tough when we needed to. We have a swagger about ourselves, knowing we're going to get back in the game if we're down."
Howard, who posted his NBA-high 20th double-double of the season, said, "It feels good, man. It was a great win. I'm trying to calm down right now. I'm so hyped up, I feel like I can go play two more quarters."
Although the win gave the Magic a better record (32-8) than the Lakers (31-9), Orlando hasn't been getting nearly as much attention.
"We're flying under the radar. Noboby's really noticing us," Nelson said. "At the same time, it's fine with us. Everybody in this locker room knows the type of team we have and knows what we're capable of.
"So as long as we continue to win, we'll be where we want to be at the end of the year. Every year our team has gotten better. We're definitely a lot more mature because of our playoff experience. But we haven't reached our goal, and that's to win a championship."
Bryant, whose triple-double was the 15th of his career and first since April 1, 2005, said the Magic played well.
"They made some tough shots. He (Nelson) made some really, really huge, tough shots. He's playing at an all-star level.
"And we didn't do a good job corralling (Howard), staying on top of him. We let him catch the ball deep and finish."
Nelson scored 10 of Orlando's final 12 points, including hitting one of his three 3-pointers with 35 seconds left to put the Magic up 104-103. He was good on four free throws afterward as the Magic built a five-point lead.
All the Orlando starters scored in double figures, with Rashard Lewis getting 15, Hedo Turkoglu 13 and Courtney Lee 12.
Lamar Odom had 17 points for Los Angeles, and Vladimir Radmanovic had 15, all coming on his 5-of-8 shooting treys. Andrew Bynum had 14 points and three rebounds, but scored just two points after halftime and again was outplayed by Howard, who also blocked three shots.
Although they didn't match their NBA record-setting spree of 23 3-pointers they made in their last game, the Magic had a telling edge over the Lakers from beyond the arc, going 12-of-28 to Los Angeles' 9-of-26. Lewis hit four of his eight 3-point attempts and Nelson came up big at the right time, hitting all of his 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter after missing the three he took earlier in the game.
The Magic were coming off a 139-107 rout of Sacramento where they established the league record for 3-point baskets.
The teams juggled the lead back and forth in the final 12 minutes, with 15 lead changes and the seven ties before the Magic got a comfortable lead in the closing seconds.
Down 54-44 early in the third quarter, the Magic put together a 19-6 run to take their first lead of the game, at 63-60 on Lee's 3-pointer midway through the period. They went on to pull out to a 69-60 lead, but the Lakers came back to retake the lead at 75-74 on Pau Gasol's tip-in just before the buzzer ending the third.
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Preview:
After their record-setting win in Sacramento, the Magic flew due-south to Los Angeles for a 10:30 p.m. match-up tonight against the Lakers (31-6). Orlando will meet a Lakers team that lost in the final moments to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night on the road.
With the Magic and Lakers’ success so far this season, STAPLES Center will surely play host to the premiere event in Hollywood tonight to kick off the weekend. Orlando is tied with Los Angeles for the second-most wins in the NBA with 31, just one win behind the Boston Celtics. Both teams head into the winners of eight of their last 10 games and will be looking to continue their winning ways. The Lakers have a 5.5 game lead for the top seed in the Western Conference, but the Magic are still fighting to catch the Cavaliers, who have maintained a half-game lead over Orlando for the top seed in the East.
The position each team is in now happens to be very similar to that of when they met for the first time on December 20th in Amway Arena, when Orlando erased a 10-point deficit and pulled out a 106-103 victory. Orlando has been battling for position in the East with Boston and Cleveland throughout the season, while the Lakers have had a solid cushion for the majority of their games.
When the teams hooked up in Orlando, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were a two-man show for the Lakers, scoring 41 and 27 points apiece, respectively. They were the only Lakers players to score more than 11 points in the game.
The Magic took a different approach and finished with four players scoring at least 14 points, led by Jameer Nelson’s 27 and Rashard Lewis’ 22. Dwight Howard was able to get the Lakers’ big men in foul trouble early and continued that trend throughout the game. Andrew Bynum was on the court for only 11 minutes and finished with three points and one rebound. Pau Gasol was also held in check, scoring only 11 points and pulling in seven boards.
The Lakers showed their lack of depth in the first match-up, having three starters notch at least 41 minutes of playing time. For Orlando, Hedo Turkoglu was the only player Stan Van Gundy left on the court for more than 40 minutes. Los Angeles was missing three rotation players in their loss to the Spurs Wednesday night. Jordan Farmar (knee) will be out for Friday's game, while Sasha Vujacic (back spasms) and Luke Walton (toe) are questionable.
The Lakers are well-rounded offensively and continue to lead the league in scoring at 107.8 ppg. Their defense, though, is average, ranking 16th in the league in opponent points per game.
If Orlando is going to pull another season sweep over a Western Conference division leader, which they did with their win over the Spurs Sunday night, they’re going to have to put the clamps on the Lakers at the defensive end. While this game should wind up with both teams scoring more than 100 points, clutch defensive stops could be what decides the outcome.
It certainly won’t be easy to knock off the Lakers in L.A. They are one of the best teams in the league at home and currently have a 20-2 record in front of their home fans. If anyone can do it, it's the Magic. They enter the game with the best road record in the NBA at 15-5.
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Keys to the game:
Depth: The Magic began the season with serious doubts about their bench and overall depth. All they've done since then is have 11 players play, and play well, in 20 or more games. Their starting shooting guard, Mickael Pietrus, went down in late December but the team hasn't missed a beat. In fact, they're performing even better offensively. Courtney Lee and J.J. Redick have combined to average 29 ppg. over the past two games and are red-hot from the outside. The Lakers have their injury problems as well and will be missing their backup point guard, Jordan Farmar. With two other regular rotation players in question for tonight's game, the Lakers starters may have to play big minutes in this statement game. That doesn't bode well for a Laker team that will be playing for the third time in four nights against a 20-win team.
Defending Kobe Bryant: It's the obvious problem for any team taking on the Lakers, but with Pietrus being sidelined for this game, Stan Van Gundy will need to make some decisions. Courtney Lee is listed as only an inch shorter than Kobe Bryant, but it's hard to imagine the rookie standing eye to eye with No. 24. Lee is more than capable of defending any guard in the league, but Bryant may be able to rise above him for his jumper. If Van Gundy opts to use Keith Bogans as the prime defender on Bryant, he will be risking the offensive continuity that has developed over the past five games with Lee sharing minutes with J.J. Redick at the shooting guard position. Either way, the Magic are sure to throw some double-teams and half-court traps at Bryant. Whichever route Van Gundy takes with his shooting guard rotation, the Magic will need to limit Bryant's consistency in order to fly out of Tinseltown with a victory.
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Game Notes:
Jan. 16 @ L.A. Lakers: Orlando is 10-30 all-time vs. the L.A. Lakers (7-14 at home, 3-16 on the road) during the regular season, including 1-0 this season (see recap below)…Orlando went 0-2 last season against the Lakers...The Magic have lost 16 of the last 20 games in this series…Orlando has lost eight of the last 11 meetings at home, and snapped a 10-game losing skid at Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2007 (104-97)...Brian Cook spent his first four-plus years in the NBA (259 games) with Los Angeles from 2003-07…Dec. 20 vs. L.A. Lakers – Magic 106, Lakers 103: Jameer Nelson continued his red-hot play, leading the Magic with 27 points, as Orlando overcame a 10-point deficit and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 106-103, at a sold-out Amway Arena. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Magic and their sixth straight at home. Rashard Lewis scored 22 points, while Dwight Howard tallied 18 points and 12 rebounds. Kobe Bryant led all scorers with a season-high 41 points. The Lakers led 58-49 at halftime, as Bryant scored 25 first half points. Orlando opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run and took an 85-84 edge heading into the fourth quarter, after Nelson scored 15 points during the frame. Trailing 104-103, the Lakers got the ball back, but Sasha Vujacic missed a three-pointer from the corner with 3.9 seconds left. After Howard converted a pair of free throws, Los Angeles had one final shot. However, Bryant’s long three-point shot was off the mark and the Magic escaped with the win. Orlando held the Lakers to just 41.4 percent shooting from the field and overcame missing 15 free throws.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. LAKERS: 46 pts., Shaquille O’Neal (@ Orlando, 3-8-95)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 41 pts., Kobe Bryant (@ Orlando, 11-12-04)
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