Sluggish Lakers surge past Magic in final minutes – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — There were two main focuses entering the Lakers’ Monday home game against the Orlando Magic: would LeBron James play on the second night of a back-to-back? And if he did, would his minutes be limited?

The other was the team’s rotation, with Coach Darvin Ham saying after Sunday’s road loss to the Sacramento Kings that he felt that’s something he needed to buckle down on.

James (19 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals) was available, playing 33 minutes despite playing 39 in an overtime loss the previous night. The rotation was more consistent from the first half to the second, with the Lakers getting significant contributions from Gabe Vincent (nine points on 4-of-7 shooting) and Christian Wood (nine points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots) off the bench.

And despite struggling with taking care of the defensive glass, the Lakers (2-2) grabbed them when they mattered for the most part, helping them secure a 106-103 victory over the Magic (2-1) at Crypto.com Arena.

Even with the Magic’s significant advantages in second-chance points (20-4) and bench scoring (39-18), the Lakers’ efficiency in the paint helped them stay in the game.

Anthony Davis (26 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and three blocks) had a putback to reduce the Lakers’ deficit to 100-98 with less than three minutes remaining.

The Lakers kept it close from there, with D’Angelo Russell (28 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with eight assists), knocking down a 3-pointer to put the Lakers ahead to stay at 104-103 with 1:43 remaining. Russell also knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Lakers a 3-point lead with eight seconds remaining.