Magic Stun Lakers in Lebron’s Return

The Orlando Magic (34-38) came out with a shocking 118-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers (43-28) Monday night.

Star-Studded Duel

It was the usual suspects for both sides leading the pack on the offensive end.

A scoring duel between Luka Doncic and Franz Wagner ended in a draw as both stars finished with 32 points. Paolo Banchero dropped a cool 30 ball shooting over 50% from the field. Lebron James, in his first game back from injury after missing seven straight contests, turned in a 24 point, 7 rebound and 6 assist performance.

https://twitter.com/OrlandoMagic/status/1904357453703086288

The Magic really took over in the third quarter. Coming out of the break down two, Orlando quickly went on a huge 21-5 scoring surge.

That said, it was the secondary scoring that gave Orlando the jolt in needed in that stretch.

Depth Dominance

Solid second half performances from Wendell Carter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a breakout showing from Anthony Black were able to overwhelm the Lakers’ depth in the final two frames. Black played an impressive 30 minutes off the bench and tacked on 17 points on 7/10 shooting.

The win is the second in a row for the Magic. They are clinging to a play-in spot with ten games remaining. With this win, they have sole possession of 8th in the Eastern Conference.

For the Lakers, this is the latest in a stretch of struggles over the past ten games. Their spot as the 4th seed in the West is hotly contested by the Grizzlies (43-28), and Steph Curry‘s Warriors (41-30) who are two games behind them.

Up Next

The Magic will travel to Charlotte Tuesday night to play the Hornets (18-53), with tipoff set for 7 p.m., from Spectrum Center.