Orlando Magic defeat Los Angeles Lakers 89-75 (Part 2)
Staring at a four-point deficit early in the first quarter, the Orlando Magic decided to put their foot on the accelerator. Dwight Howard started the run with a three-point play. Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson soon followed suit with two scorching triple
pointers, as the Magic were off and running on a 13-0 spurt, which Howard eventually capped with a thunderous dunk.
Trailing by 24-15 after the Orlando onslaught, the Los Angeles Lakers finished the first quarter with six consecutive points to make it a three-point game. In the second quarter Orlando made the move early, outscoring the Lakers 6-2 within the first two
minutes of play to extend their advantage to seven.
However, Lamar Odom upped the ante at that juncture, scoring six in an eight point unanswered spurt that propelled the Lakers to a 31-30 lead. However, Richardson halted the surge with a three-pointer. What followed was a deadlock that saw the score tied
four times in three minutes.
Orlando however, had the last laugh in the second quarter, as they scored four points on the trot to go into the break leading by 45-41. The topsy-turvy game followed its trend into the third quarter as both teams hung tough. Orlando though displayed an
added intensity down the final minutes of the phase, finishing with a 9-4 burst to go into the final period with a 67-60 advantage.
The Magic hit the ground running in the fourth quarter which proved to be pivotal in the final outcome of the game. The play which eventually defined the game started when Howard canned two consecutive jumpers, and his intensity soon caught up with the rest
of the Orlando offence. After Odom helped the Lakers pull back to within seven in the following minutes, the Magic front men rattled a 13-4 run to sprint away to an 84-69 advantage with five and a half minutes to go.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson was critical of his side’s fourth quarter performance. He said, "I told the team going into the fourth period that the first three minutes are really critical. We missed a couple shots and changed the game from a six to a 12-point
game just like that."
Nearly one and a half minute later, Howard fired twice from the charity stripe and followed it with a three-point play to finally pull away with a 89-71 advantage; their biggest of the match. The match finally ended at 89-75.
The Lakers finished off with a poor 39 percent conversion rate for the game, 7-for-15 from the foul line and only 2-for-16 from long-range.
Orlando on the contrary, excelled all-round. They out-rebounded the Lakers 46-34, scored nearly 49 percent from the field and also went at 80 percent from the free throw line. In addition to that, their entire team scored at least two shots in the match.
The men from south beach especially had a lot of possession in the second half. The Magic also managed to shoot at 53 percent against the NBA's sixth-ranked team in terms of defensive field goal percentage.
Dwight Howard, who led the Magic throughout the night emphasised after the game that despite beating the Lakers, they should not get too far ahead of themselves and should aim to bring consistency in their ranks instead.
He said, "The way we played tonight is the way we have to play if we want to be considered a great team. If we continue to do that, there's no doubt in my mind we have what it takes to win a championship."
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