GAME TIME: Magic 96, Lakers 94
This was an extremely significant win for Orlando for a wide variety of reasons.
The Magic's belligerent, in-your-face defense obliterated the Lakers' triangle. Except for some low-post hoops by Kobe Bryant, the rest of the Lakers scored a mere three points on moves in the pivot — a bucket by Pau Gasol and a free throw by Ron Artest. The Lakers' only other interior scoring in their half-court sets came on off-the-ball cuts, passes and layups. This shutdown of L.A.’s inside game forced the visitors to mostly rely on their perimeter shooting — which failed them to the tune of 5-for-17 from beyond the arc and an overall mark of 37.5 percent from the field.
Special credit goes to Matt Barnes, whose aggressively fearless defense on Kobe was a key factor. Although Bryant recorded 34 points, he needed 30 field-goal attempts to get there — and from mid-range and beyond, Kobe was only 6-for-18. As a bonus, Barnes also dropped a critical trey in the endgame.
As usual, Dwight Howard cleaned the glass. His 16 retrievals helped the Magic to a 50-39 edge in rebounds. Although Howard had trouble creating makeable shots in the low post — two were blocked and two were bricks — he feasted on dunk-backs and drop passes he converted into layups. He even made a vital free throw!
Vince Carter also gets props for attacking the rim in the first and fourth quarters — hence his 13 free throws and 25 total points.
The Lakers simply could not keep Jameer Nelson from turning the corner on high screens. Nelson’s total of 15 points and seven assists is not an adequate measure of how well he distorted L.A.’s defense and orchestrated the Magic’s offense.
As is his wont, Rashard Lewis vanished for long stretches, but he emerged to hit 4-of-9 big-time triples.
Marcin Gortat made huge contributions in his 16 minutes of daylight. Scoring on a screen/roll, hitting a jumper, swatting a pair of shots and playing ace defense.
Mickael Pietrus maintained the defensive pressure on Bryant, while also coming with a pair of blocks, a steal and seven crucial points.
Despite committing 19 turnovers to the Lakers' seven, the Magic made the plays they had to make. Above all, and with Barnes taking the lead, Orlando demonstrated once again the Lakers are strictly a finesse team that can be thrown off course with some ultra-physical play.
At the same time, this was an extremely significant loss for the Lakers.
The most important revelation was their defense is still unable to adequately control high screen/rolls. Blame this on the Lakers' poor communication, poor baseline rotations and just plain faulty execution. Indeed, on several occasions, the Magic’s ball-handlers were easily able to dribble off the screen, split the resulting double teams and then penetrate deep into the lane.
On those rare sequences when the Lakers successfully collapsed to form an interior wall against this kind of penetration, the strong-side wings were left wide open. Here is where Artest’s power cannot match the benefits of the departed Trevor Ariza’s quickness.
On an individual basis, Andrew Bynum was flummoxed on offense, shooting 1-for-5 and missing several awkward layups.
Lamar Odom was mostly inattentive on defense.
Gasol scored most of his 20 points on his smarts and his hustle, but was pushed around by the bigger, stronger Howard. No surprise here.
Artest was nailed on every high screen the Magic presented and showed absolutely no touch on his jumpers.
Jordan Farmar was totally torched by Nelson and also forced several shots.
Even though his age is showing, Derek Fisher was solid.
And what about Kobe?
He forced four shots and played rather passive defense. And his last-second, win-or-lose shot proved he is human.
For the most part, the Lakers did play hard, but they seldom played with intelligence. Like timidly fouling Howard in the act, thereby giving him the opportunity to register three-point plays. Like not setting up a proper pivot-wing-high post triangle to get the ball in to Kobe when he was fronted in the low post. Like, after two lackluster losses on the road at Miami and Charlotte, believing they could turn up their mojo whenever and wherever they needed to do so.
It’s always surprising when one of Phil Jackson’s teams so often operates on cruise control. Even though overconfidence is the biggest reason NBA champions fail to repeat, the Lakers' third consecutive loss — and particularly the way they lost in Orlando — is an inauspicious omen for the defending champs.
In sum, the Magic played rock-'em-sock-'em, playoff-caliber basketball, and the Lakers did not.
Note: A word about the bizarre officiating: It was impossible to anticipate when a whistle would blow and what call would be made.
