Lakers, LeBron too much to handle in front of Magic home record crowd

Win streaks have come few and far between for the Magic in recent years.

But heading into Tuesday night’s home matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando found itself in the midst of one of its most impressive stretches in the last decade.

The Magic had won eight of their last nine games, with six of those wins coming against opponents currently in playoff or play-in position as the roster’s younger players continued to show improvement.

Following plenty of tough competition, the situation appeared encouraging as the Magic faced off against the struggling Lakers.

But the Magic could not keep their success rolling, falling 129-110 to the Lakers (14-20) in front of a Magic home record crowd of 19,482.

Orlando found itself trailing in the first quarter after a slow start offensively and was unable to recover. The Magic put together a couple of runs as it settled in, but Los Angeles maintained a strong lead for much of the game as shots continued to fall.

The Magic (13-22) had no answers for star forward LeBron James, who finished with 28 points on 50 percent shooting along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. James repeatedly stepped up to take control of the game in key moments.

“You have to give the Lakers a ton of credit,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “They came out and they hit us early. They put the pressure on; they attacked in transition.”

Orlando did see a strong performance from guard Markelle Fultz, who put up 16 points with 3 rebounds and 3 assists to lead the team in scoring, but it wasn’t enough.

The Magic were also not able to rely on the usual output that they had come to expect from rookie forward Paolo Banchero, who logged just 22 minutes after ending up in foul trouble.

Banchero had been averaging nearly 22 points per game before putting up just 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting against the Lakers.

“He’s a competent young man and his teammates will lift him up. We will lift him up,” Mosley said. “These are the experiences that all young players are gonna have to go through so he can look back and reflect on these situations.”

After putting up plenty of points in recent games, the Magic missed seven of their first nine shots and turned the ball over three times in the opening minutes, giving the Lakers a chance to build a 6-point lead by the end of the first quarter.

Orlando continued to flounder offensively as halftime neared, failing to find a consistent way to generate points. Los Angeles, meanwhile, managed to hold onto a steady lead thanks to a solid performance from beyond the arc. The Lakers made 36% of their first-half 3-point attempts as the Magic struggled to contain them from deep.

Los Angeles led by as much as 16 before Orlando was able to get going on offense late in the half. The Magic put together a 9-0 run as shots finally began to fall, in part thanks to several impressive moves beneath the basket by Fultz.

“I think we were just getting caught up in all the wrong things tonight,” Fultz said. “Which is frustrating, but at the same time we’ve got to learn from it and keep it moving.”

The Magic managed to cut the deficit to 10 by halftime.

Coming out of the half, Orlando looked much more comfortable on offense and was able to briefly make things competitive. A couple of nice shots by forward Bol Bol spurred what turned into a 9-1 run for the Magic, cutting the Lakers’ lead to 5 midway through the third quarter.

But following six straight points by James, the Lakers retook a double-digit lead and never looked back. As the second half devolved into a shootout, Orlando was unable to do enough to break through.

The Magic will look to bounce back on Wednesday at Detroit for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

“In order to be a good team and improve, you’ve got to learn from the things that you did,” Fultz said. “We’ve gotta shake it off and let it be motivation for the next one.”

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