LeBron James’ Triple-Double Leads Lakers Past Magic To Begin Five-Game Road Trip

Dan Duangdao
2 Min Read
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Without Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic to begin their five-game road trip and extended their winning streak to 12 games.

Despite a slow start by both teams (3-of-17 shooting from the field), the Lakers responded well after the Magic won a surprisingly early Coach’s Challenge out of a timeout.

Led by Anthony Davis‘ seven points and eight rebounds, Los Angeles took an early double-digit lead after holding Orlando without a field goal for more than five minutes.

Although head coach Frank Vogel was without Kuzma and Rondo, Avery Bradley‘s return after a 13-game absence and Jared Dudley‘s early three-pointer energized the bench.

With LeBron James taking his first rest, Davis and the bench were able to extend their lead to 26-9 after the first quarter.

When James returned for the start of the second quarter, he went on a 7-0 run himself as part of his 14 points as the Lakers established the biggest lead of the game.

However, the Magic bench had a response of their own as they went on an 11-0 run to cut the team’s lead to 13. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope responded with back-to-back three-pointers to regain some much-needed momentum.

To begin the second half, the Magic gained some confidence and cut the deficit to just two points midway through the third quarter, which forced a Lakers timeout.

While the Magic had an opportunity to tie or take the lead, the Lakers re-established their lead, highlighted by James’ alley-oop pass to Davis after some strong team defense.

As the Magic never actually took the lead in the third quarter, the Lakers started the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run and never looked back to begin their five-game road trip.

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Dan Duangdao was the managing editor at Lakers Nation (2013-16, 2018-20). He is currently the founder at LA Sports Media, Lake Show, Raiders Nation, Rams Nation, Kings Nation, Galaxy Nation, and MMA Rumors. Born and raised in Southern California and a lifelong Los Angeles sports and mixed martial arts fan, his first NBA game was Kobe Bryant and the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors with Michael Jordan in attendance during the 1998-99 NBA season. He was previously a contributor at HOOPSWORLD (now Basketball Insiders) and an NBA editor at ClutchPoints. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @DanDuangdao.