Deandre Ayton bounced back in a big way in the Los Angeles Lakers’ contest against the Orlando Magic with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Unfortunately, it didn’t result in a win as the Lakers came up just short in a 110-109 home loss.
With that loss, the Lakers ended their home stand at just 4-4, a disappointing result especially as it came after the team went 5-3 on their longest road trip of the season. While Ayton is still maintaining a positive outlook overall and feels this team still has plenty of time to get things together ahead of the postseason, he admitted to being disappointed with their recent play.
“It’s a bit upsetting,” Ayton said of the losses at home. “But I think we got like 24 games left, we got a lot of chances to just get in as good of a position as we can. It did feel weird in the home stand just being 4-4 and it was tough losses playing against some really good teams. But we play every other day, so just get back in the lab and get ready for the next game.”
As Ayton said, the Lakers don’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they must turn right around and take on the Phoenix Suns on the road. The Suns are right below them in the Western Conference standings and hold a 2-1 advantage on the season, so a victory is crucial for the Lakers.
As for what happened that led to the loss to the Magic, Ayton echoed the sentiments of others in that the Lakers just couldn’t get stops when they needed to.
“How did it get away from us? Down the stretch, trading too many baskets,” Ayton added. “I felt like we didn’t get the stops we needed. [On the] 50/50 balls, we didn’t get them to close out possessions correctly. [With] loose balls and them converting, even with offensive second chances and hitting us with daggers late in the stretch. So, that kind of like, had us on our heels a little bit.”
Individually, it was still a great night for Ayton, particularly in the first half when he scored 17 of his 21 points, most of which on easy buckets set up by Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves.
“Well, my playmakers were feeding me the ball, and they just kept telling me do the same thing over and over,” Ayton noted. “So, you know, I just was making sure I was physical and I tried my best to score closest to the rim as much as possible so I can keep getting it down there. Tonight, they believed in their switches a lot, so I’m glad I got a chance to punish that just to switch it up a little bit and give them a different look.”
Being able to replicate that aggression and physicality on a nightly basis will be key to Ayton’s success down the stretch of the season and hopefully this game shows him that when he plays like this, he will be rewarded.
Lakers’ Deandre Ayton calls lob from LeBron James a top highlight of his career
Just a couple of games earlier, Deandre Ayton had perhaps his biggest highlight of the season when he caught a huge alley-oop from LeBron James, which he called one of the top highlights of his career.
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