5 Things: Lakers use dominant 3rd quarter to beat Magic

LeBron James turned back the clock (or slept for 12 hours depending on your sources) and notched his second triple-double in 3 games, the 101 of his career and the Lakers pulled away in the second half to easily beat the easily beatable Orlando Magic. With the Magic missing Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs and Jonathon Isaac (all injured) this was the kind of team the Lakers had to date played down to, allowed to hang around, and generally struggle to win against this season. Whether last night’s game ended that absurd behavior or was a one off remains to be seen. Plenty of good vibes though as the Lakers look to match their longest winning streak of the season tomorrow night at 3 games.

1. How long can LeBron James play the hero? Who cares, he’s still doing it and we’ll need it all this season. LeBron’s line has become fairly common-place which is a testament to his consistent greatness. 12-20 (3-7 from three and 3-4 from the line), 11 rebounds, 10 dimes, 3 team energizing blocks with the only blemish being his 6 turnovers. When the rest of the line looks like that, you accept the turnovers as an aspect of functionality. The way The King played both energized the arena and his team, bringing the bench and STAP, er…The Crypt… to it’s feet. Evidently a large dose of sleep was one of the catalysts for the breakout game as LeBron quipped in his post-gamer about his 12 hours after jetting all over the country to both play and watch his son Bronny hoop. More of this and LeBron will, once again, at least put himself into the convo for MVP.
2. Talen tapping into his two-way game. A career high 6 steals punctuated THT’s solid contribution as he looks to fill roles left for him by both Caruso and Kuzma. We’re asking a lot of the 21 year old and his defense will determine his success more than anything else on this team. We got guys who can get buckets, and we got a couple of able and willing defenders…but we’re lacking on dudes who do both. Against the Magic THT was a true two-way player as he had active hands, shot efficiently from everywhere, and promptly landed on the NBA H&SP list due to a positive COVID test. Hoping for a speedy recovery for THT.
3. Limiting FTA. One of the foundational principles to a good defense is not bailing out guys by fouling them on shots. Make them can a tough bucket, no bail out reach fouls. The Lakers had been giving up a ton of free throws to start the season and, of late, they’ve been managing a better defensive focus. This continued last night as the Lakers wracked up some impressive team defense stats (12 steals, 11 blocks, and 37.5% shooting overall for Orlando) and held the Magic to under 20 FTA. Getting the job done on D doesn’t often result in a Sports Center highlight (do those still exist? They must…) but it helps the team put up W’s.
4. The right kind of offense. It is, of course, helpful when LeBron brings his monster game to the arena but the Lakers overall have started to tighten up some loose ends that had been dragging the team down. One of the big gripes here at the blog is Frank not getting the right guys the right shots and, too, has started to improve albeit only slightly over the last few games. Whenever the team shoots 46.8% from three it makes the rest of the game a lot easier. The Lakers did right by themselves in that they took a very succinct 28 three pointers (making a lucky 13 of them) and everyone who took one made one except for Malik Monk, who had a down game when compared to his recent play. No threes from Russ means he spent the night in attack mode and didn’t force his outside shot. All good signs.
5. Beating the beatable. After struggling against the youthful vigor of some of the younger teams in the NBA the Lakers have flipped that script of late by beating OKC and now the Magic. We need these bunny games, like anyone knows the bear needs to fatten up before the winter nap and the Lakers a re very bear-like this season. GOt to add some more bulk and beat the teams we ought to beat, be they young, injured or both we can’t afford too many more let-down games this season. Luckily the western conference is having a kind of down season, thus far, and the Lakers are still holding onto the 6th seed at 15-13. The Lakers really need to turn it around at STAPLES/The Crypt where they are a mediocre 10-7.

With Luka out the Lakers need to bring the heat and beat Dallas, keep pace with our cross-crypt rivals, The Clippers, and not let Memphis gain any separation. While not monumental in a singular sense, all of these games matter in terms of building good habits, chemistry and keeping pace in the standings. Can we equal our longest winning streak of the season? Here’s hoping. Go Lakers.