Magic Get Laid Out in LA, Fall to Lakers

Not one, not two, not three, not four, but five!

That’s right the Orlando Magic have lost FIVE straight games. The Magic received their latest L via a 101-84 beat down by the Kobe Bryant-less Los Angeles Lakers.

Victor Oladipo (ORL) — 17 pts.; Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 14 pts., 11 rebs.
Jeremy Lin (LAL) — 18 pts.; Carlos Boozer (LAL) — 12 pts., 14 rebs.

Good thing they are past tanking right?

Now how did the Magic manage to pull this off against a team that is intentionally trying to lose games? The answer is simple.

60-36. That number signifies the rebound advantage that the Lakers held over the Magic tonight, including an 18-4 advantage on the offensive glass.

If you did not watch the game it is extremely hard to fathom how one NBA team could be outrebounded by another to that degree. However, if you watched the game it was fairly clear the Magic had no intention of trying tonight. Nobody boxed out, the guards did not crash the glass and Channing Frye got to play center again.  Why not go small since Vucevic was flat-footed and uninterested in making the effort to play?

Lakers color commentators expressed shock that Vucevic sat the entire second period following a 4 of 4 shooting performance in the first quarter.  It’s questionable as to whether either broadcaster gave any attention to the fact that Nik was only playing on one side of the court.

All this resulted in a recipe for disaster and the Magic once again got what they deserved.

The Lakers were led by Jeremy Lin who scored 18 points and added 6 assists and Carlos Boozer who scored 12 points and tallied 14 rebounds. The Magic were led by Victor Oladipo who scored 17 points on 10 shots.

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Game Notes:

• For most of the game tonight it appeared as though only Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton cared to show up tonight. I have no proof Jacque Vaughn has lost this club but I would say we could be nearing that point.
• Nikola Vucevic keeps showing up well in the box score when in reality he is not playing all that great. Vucevic has been getting destroyed by his counterparts on the offensive glass recently.  Those whose attention has solely been on Orlando Magic boxscores would have the impression he is still playing All-Star caliber basketball; he’s not.
• Speaking of Vucevic he and Frye combined to give up four offensive rebounds on one play because they did not want to box out.  There is no reason Jordan Hill, Robert Sacre, Ed Davis and Tarik Black should be made to look like a quartet of Dennis Rodmans on the loose.

• Victor Oladipo had another nice dunk tonight.

• Another note on Oladipo, he seems to be stylistically changing his game as of late. A lot more attacking the rim and a lot better defensive effort. About the only encouraging thing as of late. He was in pure attack mode just about the entire game on a night his teammates looked apathetic at best.
• Andrew Nicholson is playing a different kind of game that I am used to seeing from him. Nicholson is playing great defense and passing the ball. He still has issues with boxing out and shot selection.
• Ben Gordon seems to have fallen out of the rotation on favor of Luke Ridnour. We’re at the try anything phase now.

Rookie Report:

Elfrid Payton: Payton looks really uncomfortable turning the corner and putting up a shot right now. Tonight Payton only attempted four shots (all good looks), but the only one he made was a fastbreak dunk off of a steal. Defensively he is still doing a very good job. In the third quarter, he sparked a run to get Orlando within striking distance. The one thing that’s really nice about Elfrid right now is that he is one of the rare guys that is not letting his offense dictate the rest of his game. That bodes well for his future.