ORLANDO, Fla. – It was pure magic at the Amway Center Saturday night. A 38-point third quarter helped the Orlando Magic defeat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for their fourth win in five games.
Who would have thought the team's best performance of the season would come against King James?
It was Orlando's sixth straight win over the Lakers at the Amway Center. The last time the Lakers won on the road vs the Magic was back on Mar. 12, 2013.
The Magic recorded a season high 130 points thanks to a pair of season-highs from Nikola Vucevic (36 points) and D.J. Augustin (22 points). And, potentially most impressive, Jonathan Isaac‘s career-high five blocks came during the game in just 17 minutes of action.
Man.
Jonathan Isaac took it to LeBron in the 2nd. Blocked his three, hit a 3 on him, then in transition after this blocked him again. pic.twitter.com/VaCdwLgZ3n
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 18, 2018
Blocking James on a jumper requires some absurd length and athleticism. If Isaac can stay healthy, the Magic have the tools to consistently hold opponents to totals well below their season average.
“When he was a rookie last year, I didn’t really know about him [Isaac] much,” Aaron Gordon said. “I tried to throw a couple of passes (in practice), and he was just deflecting them. His deflections are crazy. His length is important for us, and he’s going to keep getting better. We’re going to eventually be on the court together, and the defense will be stifling.”
Over the last five games, Orlando is averaging 116.4 points per game, shooting 49.6% from the field, including 41.7% from beyond the arc.
Plays of the Night 🎥 Saturday’s win vs. the @Lakers https://t.co/HYrPSCZF4t
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) November 18, 2018
“Good win,” Magic head coach Clifford said. “Really good second quarter, third quarter, and then they downsized there at the end of the third. Like most teams, when they put that much skill on the court, they spread you out. We had a little trouble with that. Again, we ended up in the bonus early in the fourth. Except for that I thought our ball movement was good, the assists numbers would attest to that with 28 assists on 50 makes. We did a lot of good things. It’s a good start to this little two game home-stand here.”
It was Orlando's sixth straight win over the Lakers at the Amway Center. The Magic improved to 8-8 with the win, sitting in the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference.
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