3 Good Quarters of Basketball but we Needed the Whole Dollar. Lakers vs Magic

By: Wyatt Nebergall

The first quarter of the Magic vs. Lakers game last night in Orlando was one of the most painful quarters of basketball Magic fans have been forced to watch all season. Only Scoring 9 points while the Lakers put up 26. However, without the first quarter, Orlando walks away with an 8-point victory. They came back with impressive aggression but fell short 87-96 holding LA under 100 points for just their 4th time this season. Here’s a little of what I saw.

Jonathan Isaac continues to prove himself as an ELITE defender. Mostly tasked with defending “the brow” Anthony Davis he held him to 6-20 from the field. He shot 43% from the field and had a team-high 19 points.

Aaron Gordon vs Labron James 12/11/19

Markelle Fultz was out due to illness. He was SEVERELY missed. His ability to get into the paint and dish out to teammates for easy baskets would have changed everything about that horrendous first quarter and possibly even gotten Orlando off on the right foot. DJ is struggling I honestly would have rather seen MCW get the start as he seems to be able to get in and kick out better at this point in their careers.

Mo Bamba had a polarizing block on LBJ meeting him at the rim and SHUTTING HIM THE FUCK DOWN. He came out rather hot shooting 5/9 adding 13 points and helping close the deficit. In the 4th quarter, Dwight Howard frustrated with Bamba’s defense hit him with an elbow in the chest and shoved him which leads me to…

Mo Bamba about to destroy the rim. Magic vs Lakers 12/11/19

Wes Iwundu. The man with titanium balls. Okay okay, I’m hyped on my guy Wes because he’s a team player. Both Wes and MCW stepped in to back Mo when Dwight shoved him. Magic have a reputation for being soft and it made me proud to see these guys come to Mo’s defense. Iwundu was given a double technical shoving Howard which was just horse shit. Howard was the instigator and first to shove a player and was given a single tech. Jared Dudley shoved Iwundu after getting a double tech himself and MCW was given a single tech for trying to grab Dwight’s arm, I guess? I don’t know to be honest the whole scuffle was horse shit. IMO Dwight, Wes, and Dudley should have all received single techs and magic should have shot one FT. Call me (Tom) petty but I think Dwight knows Mo is the beloved center of the future in Orlando and you could tell it bothered Howard to be booed by the fans in Orlando as he complained to his teammate as he took the floor for the first time.

Evan Fournier started the 2nd half with back to back 3s and continues to carry this team offensively in Vuc’s absence. He was tasked with guarding LBJ in some stints when AG wasn’t on him.

AG did pretty great guarding LBJ, he of course made some difficult shots as to be expected but all in all both him and Isaac handled their assignments pretty well.

Isaac blocking Dudley Magic vs Lakers 12/11/19

It seems like Orlando’s defense could improve by not using so much “help defense” with AG on Bron, and JI on AD, I think you have to trust those guys to hold them to minimal production on their own. Every time they draw a double team, they’d find an open guy for an easy shot. For a team with so much length and players that are good defenders I really think they need to trust each other to play man on man defense.

My biggest takeaway. They have to play 48 minutes of basketball. Magic had a shot at beating the 2 best teams in the NBA. They just can’t seem to put it together for a full game. They’ll have a chance to redeem themselves against James Harden and the Houston Rockets Friday, Dec, 13th. Orlando could gain a lot of confidence from beating a good team and prove to THEMSELVES they have what it takes to be taken seriously in this league.

The Magic have shown a lot of hope, all without their All-Star big man Vucevic. He could be back as early as Friday, and hopefully, in his absence, the rest of the team has “leveled up” everyone has had to carry a bit more of the offensive production without Vuc in the lineup. Khem Birch has struggled both offensively and defensively while Mo had stepped it up quite a bit. Hopefully, Vuc comes back 100% and gets back to doing what he does to help this team string together some wins.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions! Be sure to find me on Twitter @The_Wyatt_Alan and if you aren’t yet follow, @thecloseupmagic where we keep the dialogue going. Follow @picknrocknroll for the latest on my podcast. Stay Stoked Magic Kingdom!

By Wyatt Nebergall