The Los Angeles Lakers’ road trip got off on the wrong foot as they were thoroughly outplayed by the Orlando Magic.
Both teams were shorthanded as they were missing several rotation players, but the Magic didn’t play like it as their roster stepped up to control the game from the opening tip. The young Orlando team was active on both ends of the floor, seemingly coming up with every loose ball.
However, the game was won on the glass as the Magic outrebounded the Lakers 51-40. The offensive rebounding was the most jarring stat as Orlando grabbed 19 of them versus just 10 for Los Angeles.
Anthony Davis was blunt when it came to the team’s lack of rebounding, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I mean it came from everybody honestly. Bigs contest, it’s on the guards. But then when the guards gotta contest, then the big gotta rebound so it was a collective problem tonight. Nothing that we didn’t know that they were going to do. They did it a couple of nights ago against us at home, but we were able to steal it. And then turnovers, so that’s what killed us.
“Obviously they made shots to start the game, but we let them feel comfortable. Even guys who we might just get a contest and dare them to shoot. They came out and felt very comfortable and as you make them shots and their team start going and getting confidence and playing off each other, playing off of the crowd just created a hole for us ourselves at the end of the first quarter. Even though we kind of tightened up the screws a little bit, it’s just the offensive rebounds killed us the entire game.”
When asked about whether or not teams would follow the same formula, Davis admitted that he would continue to attack the Lakers on the glass:
“I mean I would. Scouting report, attack the glass, get out and run. That’s been our Achilles heel, that’s what’s gonna us lose us games. We got a problem, we gotta fix it.”
Like Davis, LeBron James agreed that the team has got to figure out a way to clean up the defensive glass. Even though the team has several bigs on the roster, L.A. has struggled to keep teams from crashing the boards and they need to figure it out soon if they want to get back on track.
Anthony Davis emphasizes Lakers must stop starting games out slowly
During the 2023-24 season, the Lakers have struggled to get going in the first quarter. Against Orlando, Los Angeles found themselves in an early double-digit hole and Davis said he and the rest of the players need to solve their slow starts.
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