Lakers/Magic
- Opening sequence: Goga Bitadze blocks AD, Suggs banks a jumper. Next possession Anthony Black gets an offensive rebound, and Bitadze gets an open shot but leaves it short. I also liked a play early on shortly after by Jalen Suggs to slow down transition offense to find a camping Paolo Banchero at the rim.
- 8:13 Suggs’ sloppiest assist of his career
- 6:50 1Q fantastic Magic defensive possession to force Wood TO
- AD came out of the first media timeout extremely aggressive against Bitadze/going to the rim in general
- The Lakers in the first quarter tried a D’Lo/Christie/Wood/Hayes/AD lineup.
- 4:50 1Q Anthony Black trap forces turnover on Davis
- 2:50 Anthony Black puts DLo in jail for a turnover
- Strong first half for Moe Wagner yet again. He has been a key driver of a main gap between the two teams: offensive rebounding.
- D’Angelo Russell taking the most shots for the Lakers is a problem, when he was not as dominant with the ball in his hands as Davis or Lebron. Russell continues to weigh down the Lakers when they’re sinking, but also helps them rise higher at their best.
- Ingles back to back assists in the third quarter; feels like Ingles is finding his chemistry with the young Magic core.
- The Lebron vs non-Lebron minutes were detrimental to both sides. The Magic lost the Lebron minutes, but ran up the score when he was off the floor.
- Anthony Black was everywhere on both ends. His impact to winning in just his second game of true minutes speaks volumes as to why this Magic front office had no qualms about selecting him despite a logjam at guard. He makes the other guards expendable.
- Jalen Suggs has had an inefficient start to the season, which is led by the fact that his 2 point scoring is still struggling. He has been a bit unlucky with bounces going off the rim, but being year 3 he needs to make improvements in this area quickly, even if the 3P% doesn’t break out. Having both be subpar negates lots of his impact.
- Goga Bitadze looked entirely serviceable, even in minutes against Anthony Davis. This may be because of a lack of scouting his fit, but the Magic will have an interesting few weeks to experiment with him while Wendell Carter Jr is out.
- Jonathan Isaac had an unbelievable sequence in the early fourth quarter locking up both Lebron and AD, which led to a Magic score on the other end. Isaac’s defensive impact in spot minutes still continues to be strong even after the injuries.
