The Los Angeles Lakers faced a sneaky tough Orlando Magic team on Tuesday, and although the Magic were without star forward Franz Wagner, they fought back from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter to put the outcome of the game in doubt down the stretch.
Even though the Lakers got outrebounded by eight, and even though they shot 31% from 3-point range, and even though Luka Doncic shot 8-of-24 from the field, 2-of-10 from 3-point range and 4-of-9 from the free throw line, they had a chance to win the game in the final seconds. Doncic took the inbounds pass and appeared to momentarily have a good look at a trey, but he passed it up. He gave the basketball to LeBron James, who had to attempt a highly difficult fallaway 3-pointer right before the horn, which he missed.
Advertisement
The result was a 110-109 loss for Los Angeles. Doncic commented afterward on what happened during that ill-fated final play between him and James.
«I mean, I just saw him open and I didn’t want to lose the ball. We didn’t have timeouts. … [But] I shouldn’t have picked up the ball. I should have attacked. … That’s on me.»
It was a completely botched possession for L.A., especially considering the team had 6.7 seconds to get off a shot and didn’t even need a 3-pointer to win the game. Throughout the game, the Lakers displayed a lack of pace, and their overall ball and player movement was clunky and mechanical, which is a problem they have had on and off throughout this season.
They will now head out for a quick two-game road trip that will start on Thursday against the Phoenix Suns. With a 34-23 record, they have fallen back into sixth place in the Western Conference, and they’re two games ahead of the Suns, who are in seventh place.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Luka Doncic on Lakers’ botched final play versus Magic
