True Lakers Fans

(11-21) at (13-18)

Friday, December 23, 2016, 4:00 PM PDT
Amway Center

Referees: Tony Brothers (#25), Brett Nansel (#44), Michael Smith (#38)

Line: Magic -4.5





GAME PREVIEW: LAKERS AT MAGIC

HEAT SET TO HONOR SHAQ WITH LAKERS IN TOWN

BY NBA.COM

The Orlando Magic cannot quite put their finger on what is happening when they don the white home jerseys and take the floor at the Amway Center.

The Magic are doing a stellar job on the road. They own a win over the San Antonio Spurs, just the fifth in the team's 28-year history. They have topped the Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards and Oklahoma City Thunder -- all on the road.

They hope to score a home win Friday when they take on the slumping Los Angeles Lakers.

Orlando is one of the few teams that has a record at .500 or better on the road. Where the Magic are unique, in a bad way, is with the home record. The Magic have a 5-10 record at the Amway Center, making them the only team with a .500-or-better road record and a sub-.500 home record.

It is a strange place for a team that was hoping to take a step forward and make the Playoffs this year. The Magic's inability to defend their home court is a puzzling trend that emerged early on this season and is holding their record back.

"I don't know, maybe we like the challenge of winning on the road because it's us against the world," guard Evan Fournier told the Orlando Sentinel. "It's hard to say why. We definitely should have more confidence at home, but I don't know what to say really."

Typically, a team that is about .500 on the road will make the playoffs on the strength of a strong home record. Road wins are supposed to make up for home losses. Orlando is subverted that typical trend.

That does not mean the Magic are still a super reliable road team. Orlando looked lifeless in falling to the New York Knicks 106-95 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Orlando certainly might be looking to come home for a reset before the holidays.

The Lakers are stumbling into the Amway Center, too. Los Angeles will play the second night of a back-to-back to close out a seven-game road trip that started in Sacramento on Dec. 12.

The Lakers have just one win in six games on the trip so far, over the league-worst Philadelphia 76ers one week ago. They lost a 19-point lead in a 115-107 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday at American Airlines Arena, their 11th defeat in the past 12 games.

"I'm a little confused myself why we're not able to put together 48 minutes," Los Angeles coach Luke Walton said. "The first half was great. We shared the ball. We got stops. We communicated. But it takes more than that to win games, and, for whatever reason, we don't have it yet.

"Maybe we're missing something. If you have suggestions, let me know, and we'll take them into consideration." The Lakers will have their own difficulties beyond their struggles on the road -- 5-13 away from home.

Los Angeles may be without two key players for Friday's game. Julius Randle left the Lakers before the Thursday game in Miami to be with his fiancee for the birth of his first child in Los Angeles. It was unclear, but seemingly unlikely, whether he would return cross country to Orlando for Friday's game.

The Lakers also will be without promising young forward Larry Nance Jr. An MRI confirmed he has a bone bruise on his knee that will keep him out indefinitely.

http://www.nba.com/games/20161223/LALORL#/preview

3Peat checking in, another winnable game but it looks like Randle wont play. Without he and Nance our PF position is non-existent. I really wish we wouldn't of signed Mozgov or Deng and just kept that money. The length of their contracts isn't good either. We were going to be Bad anyway so why not just play Black and Zubac at Center + we even have Robinson who can play PF or Center for another body. We could've Just started Ingram at SF instead of over pay 2 guys like Mozgov and Deng. Zubac would struggle but playing time this season would've helped him bigtime for next season so who cares. Signing Mozgov and Deng isn't going to help us in the future at all.

3Peatkb24 wrote:3Peat checking in, another winnable game but it looks like Randle wont play. Without he and Nance our PF position is non-existent. I really wish we wouldn't of signed Mozgov or Deng and just kept that money. The length of their contracts isn't good either. We were going to be Bad anyway so why not just play Black and Zubac at Center + we even have Robinson who can play PF or Center for another body. We could've Just started Ingram at SF instead of over pay 2 guys like Mozgov and Deng. Zubac would struggle but playing time this season would've helped him bigtime for next season so who cares. Signing Mozgov and Deng isn't going to help us in the future at all.

I don't necessarily agree. We don't know what lies in the future, but their veteran influence is important. Obviously we overpaid both of them considerably. That hurts. But Eric Pincus said that with the new CBA, expiring contracts will be a valuable trade tool again, so maybe our timing will be perfect. Who knows. We knew we would have to be patient, so here we are. The solid start turned out to be nothing more than a tease to Lakers fans.

KobeMVP888 wrote:

3Peatkb24 wrote:3Peat checking in, another winnable game but it looks like Randle wont play. Without he and Nance our PF position is non-existent. I really wish we wouldn't of signed Mozgov or Deng and just kept that money. The length of their contracts isn't good either. We were going to be Bad anyway so why not just play Black and Zubac at Center + we even have Robinson who can play PF or Center for another body. We could've Just started Ingram at SF instead of over pay 2 guys like Mozgov and Deng. Zubac would struggle but playing time this season would've helped him bigtime for next season so who cares. Signing Mozgov and Deng isn't going to help us in the future at all.

I don't necessarily agree. We don't know what lies in the future, but their veteran influence is important. Obviously we overpaid both of them considerably. That hurts. But Eric Pincus said that with the new CBA, expiring contracts will be a valuable trade tool again, so maybe our timing will be perfect. Who knows. We knew we would have to be patient, so here we are. The solid start turned out to be nothing more than a tease to Lakers fans.

I definitely have patience and I know it's easy to play Armchair GM now so we have to roll with who we have. I actually liked the Deng signing at the beginning of the season but he has been Bad. Oh well it is what it is, at least we are far more entertaining to watch this season compared to the last 3 seasons.

3Peatkb24 wrote:

KobeMVP888 wrote:

3Peatkb24 wrote:3Peat checking in, another winnable game but it looks like Randle wont play. Without he and Nance our PF position is non-existent. I really wish we wouldn't of signed Mozgov or Deng and just kept that money. The length of their contracts isn't good either. We were going to be Bad anyway so why not just play Black and Zubac at Center + we even have Robinson who can play PF or Center for another body. We could've Just started Ingram at SF instead of over pay 2 guys like Mozgov and Deng. Zubac would struggle but playing time this season would've helped him bigtime for next season so who cares. Signing Mozgov and Deng isn't going to help us in the future at all.

I don't necessarily agree. We don't know what lies in the future, but their veteran influence is important. Obviously we overpaid both of them considerably. That hurts. But Eric Pincus said that with the new CBA, expiring contracts will be a valuable trade tool again, so maybe our timing will be perfect. Who knows. We knew we would have to be patient, so here we are. The solid start turned out to be nothing more than a tease to Lakers fans.

I definitely have patience and I know it's easy to play Armchair GM now so we have to roll with who we have. I actually liked the Deng signing at the beginning of the season but he has been Bad. Oh well it is what it is, at least we are far more entertaining to watch this season compared to the last 3 seasons.

He's actually been solid lately. Not what he's being paid solid, but he's figuring out how to contribute.

Came out flat as a pancake! Magic up 44-26 in the 2nd Qtr. Russell 0 Points so far.

Lakers fought back after that embarrassing 1st quarter.

Lakers 82
Magic 88

After cutting the lead down to 6 a few minutes so the Lakers give up 6 straight

Lakers 82
Magic 94


6:24 left in the 4th

FYI 3-Peat

D'Angelo Russel has 15 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists 2 steals & 1 block

Ugh. We are sabotaging March.

Lakers4Life wrote:FYI 3-Peat

D'Angelo Russel has 15 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists 2 steals & 1 block

In a 19 point losing effort and those numbers are nothing spectacular. They are Good I guess but 3 Assists? 15 Points isn't nothing to brag about either. It's not all his fault to why we are losing, not having Randle and Nance the last 2 nights is a killer obviously but Defensively we cant stop anyone.

Missing 3 of our top 10 is big.
Ingram,Nance And Black made the bench special


We are very much in contention for a top 3 but we're better off than before