Orlando Magic Grades: Los Angeles Lakers 111, Orlando Magic 95

The Orlando Magic could not put together a winning formula on the first game of their six-game road trip falling to the Los Angeles Lakers.

VS.

	1	2	3	4	T
Magic	34	26	9	26	95
Lakers	40	22	19	30	111

For a team that badly needed a win, the Orlando Magic certainly did not show much urgency Sunday night in a 111-95 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.

The defensive effort was reminiscent of what we have seen from them for most of the year, lethargic and non-existent. The lack of physicality from Orlando’s big men combined with no help from the perimeter players got the Magic blown right out of Los Angeles.

Timofey Mozgov shot 7 for 7 from the field, Julius Randle bullied Serge Ibaka and Brandon Ingram may have produced the best game of his career, tying his career high with 17 points. Ingram was helped out a lot by Orlando’s Jeff Green who did not seem to have much interest in defending him. Green was pulled late in the fourth for Jodie Meeks as a defensive substitution.

Orlando’s offense tonight found absolutely no rhythm. Aaron Gordon and Serge Ibaka just could not find the range. Ibaka started off hot but tapered off after what appeared to be a minor shoulder injury.

Gordon, on the other hand, just could not get it going tonight as Luol Deng busted out the time machine and put the clamps on him. Gordon did not make a field goal the entire game.

As has been the case much of the year, the perimeter defenders on the Magic were nowhere to be found. D’Angelo Russell pretty much got to any spot he wanted which allowed for Mozgov to do a lot of damage on wide open looks.

This is a huge loss for the Magic, who now find themselves seven games under .500 for the first time this year. With five more on the road against far superior teams, one has to wonder how long it is going to take for the front office to make moves.

NIKOLA VUCEVIC. A-. This was a nice bounce-back game for Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic was the only Magic player who was really able to score in the second half, and the majority of his points came in the paint as opposed to his normal jump-shooting scoring. Vucevic finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, making 8 of 17 shots.The real place where Vucevic shined tonight was his defense. It sounds crazy. But the Magic were horrible defensively tonight, and Vucevic is getting a high grade because of his defense.Vucevic had a pulse tonight, one of the few. His hands were active in the pick and roll and he gave more effort on that end than anybody not named Bismack Biyombo. This probably explains why the Magic lost but Vucevic certainly was not an issue tonight.. C. Orlando Magic

F. Does anybody remember when Mario Hezonja was screened off and Juancho Hernangomez scored a few open threes? Remember how we never saw Hezonja again?Well, Jeff Green had a similar game to that tonight and nobody even set screens to impede his closeout. Green just flat out did not close out.Really, that sums up the rest of Green’s play tonight, lethargic. He still cannot hit a jump shot, and Brandon Ingram who has been abysmal this year absolutely torched him. Green finished with six points on 2-for-5 shooting. When do we get to see Mario again?. F. Orlando Magic. JEFF GREEN

D. Tonight was a rough night for Aaron Gordon. He could not dribble past Luol Deng and his jump shot was off. It explains Gordon’s 0-for-5 performance, finishign with two free throws and six rebounds.Defensively Gordon was not bad. The Magic used him all over the place. He defended D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young and Luol Deng at different points in the game. This game really gave you insight on to why the Magic seem to be so staunchly opposed to moving Gordon back to the 4. That reason is the Magic simply do not have any other good perimeter defenders.The Magic used Gordon on James Harden this past Friday as well. But at some point, the Magic need to recognize the offense/defense trade off is not worth it. Especially when you could be switching on pick and rolls and Gordon could adequately defend any pick and roll ball handler in the NBA.. F. Orlando Magic. AARON GORDON

B+. The Los Angeles Lakers came out guns blazing tonight, led by Julius Randle. The difference Randle made this game compared to the first matchup between these teams — which Randle missed to be present for the birth of his child — was noticeable.Randle bullied Serge Ibaka on the offensive end. Randle just put his head down and blew by or through Ibaka. It made the Magic defense fall apart.As noted before, Brandon Ingram had his best game of the year for the Lakers tonight thanks to Jeff Green’s lack of defense. D’Angelo Russell tortured Elfrid Payton and D.J. Augustin in the pick and roll and Timofey Mozgov benefited big time. All in all, it was a pretty good performance from the Lakers considering Lou Williams and Nick Young had off nights.. 15-26. 12th West. LOS ANGELES LAKERS