Orlando Magic at Los Angeles Lakers
Time: 9:30 PM CT (NBA League Pass)
Spread: ORL -3
Total: 212.5
Betting odds c/o 5dimes
The 27-35 Orlando Magic are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Magic did what it could against the Golden State Warriors last night, but fell 119-113 in a game that Orlando was in until the game’s final minute.
The Magic trailed Steph Curry and the Warriors by just two with a minute to go, but the Warriors closed the game strong to hold Orlando off. Tonight the Magic find itself on the second of the back-to-back but are still three-point favorites against the hosting Los Angeles Lakers.
Click HERE to see live NBA odds from major bookmakers!
The Magic may find its collective legs a little tired in this matchup, and the Lakers really cannot be just written off. L.A. just recently knocked off the Golden State Warriors in its own right, and there is enough talent on the Lakers’ roster that it is not surprising to see the team occasionally play up to a higher level. The Lakers still, though, are a 13-51 club when all things are said, and the team has a negative 9.3 point differential while having lost eight of its past 10 games.
In the Lakers 112-95 defeat of the Warriors, Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell combined for 46 points on a collective 16 of 35 shooting effort from the starting backcourt. Kobe Bryant rounded out the effort from the 3-spot where he scored 14 points on 4 of 14 shooting. The Lakers shot 47.1 percent from the field and kept its turnovers down to just 11 for the game.
L.A.held Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry to a combined 13 of 40 shooting while the “Splash Brothers” knocked down just 1 of 18 from behind the arc, pairing to be the most futile three point shooting backcourt in a single game in NBA history. Perhaps when a tandem is that good most of the time, there are nights when the stars are destined to misalign for performances like that.
Even so, the credit partially has to be given to the Lakers’ young backcourt making them work, and if nothing else the Lakers know that Clarkson and Russell might combine to be a very difficult backcourt. Clarkson is in just his second season but made the First Team all-rookie last year after being selected in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft. The Lakers snagged a blue chip prospect that late, a player who has outshined even the much higher drafted Julius Randle.
Randle had 12 points and 14 rebounds in that win over the Warriors, and he connected on 6 of 12 from the field. His style is more in the mold of an old style power forward, but his talent is too good to make him anything but a starter, even in this “new era” of NBA hoops. Randle said he would average a double-double prior to this season, and he has done just that averaging 11.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while also dishing out 1.6 assists and coming up with 1.0 steals/blocks. The slightly undersized 4-man appears to be at home in L.A., though of course anything could change with the Lakers likely to make some major moves this summer.
Expect Orlando to make massive changes this summer, too. Orlando jettisoned Tobias Harris and Channing Frye at the trade deadline and that contract juggling will give Orlando up to $50 M to spend this summer in free agency. While Orlando is still unlikely to attract Kevin Durant this summer, it easily could get someone like Mike Conley, Al Horford, DeMar DeRozan or Chandler Parsons.
The Magic need a veteran presence to calm the collection of young talent on the roster, and all of those options would fit the bill. Magic GM Rob Hennigan made the right call letting go of the promising Harris, because truthfully he may have already reached his peak and the Magic were little more than a mediocre team with a lot of money tied into a replacement level starter.
Orlando still has a wealth of young talent, even subtracting Harris. Aaron Gordon has nearly averaged a double-double his last nine games, and though Orlando has struggled to find wins, it has been in games recently, even against the Warriors.
The Magic are still trying to find ways to best utilize a strong rotation of players, but the issues at point guard have been there all season. Elfrid Payton is only just starting to come around and play as he is capable of, and Brandon Jennings has only started to solve Orlando’s issues with poor perimeter shooting from its backcourt.
The fact remains that Payton and Victor Oladipo are the two premier talents in the backcourt, and both have sub-par jumpers. Payton has improved his three-point stroke to 37 percent, but it stands to reason that neither may ever be good enough shooters to keep teams pressing at the arc. Instead, defenses lay off both Oladipo and Payton and make it difficult for the youngsters to create much more than mid-range looks when they turn to getting to the basket.
Evan Fournier has experienced much more success at both shooting and creating, but the Magic will have decisions to make on him with Fournier being a free agent this offseason. Fournier rejected a $12 million extension offered to him in the fall, and perhaps rightfully so. He may be able to draw the max this summer in his own right, but Orlando has its eyes set on landing a much bigger fish when it goes into free agency this summer.
One thing is for certain, that while the Magic have a strong collection of young talent, the roster could look quite different when next season arrives. Hennigan is starting to get a feel for what the team needs, and he should be able to sign and trade his way to a more competitive team in 2016-17.
