Lakers hold on to win surprisingly tight game against Magic

The Los Angeles Lakers extended their road winning streak to 12 games with a 96-87 win over Orlando Magic at the Amway Center on Wednesday.

Both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket on the evening, but the Lakers had just enough offense to put them over the top. LeBron James led all scorers with 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. James has now notched six triple-doubles this season, tied with Russell Westbrook for the second-most in the NBA. Luka Doncic leads the league in triple-doubles with seven.

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Anthony Davis was less successful from the field against the Magic, scoring just 16 points on 30% shooting from the field. Luckily, the supporting cast all came together to make up for an off night for Davis.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was especially good for the Lakers offensively, scoring 15 points on 5-10 shooting from the field, including 4-7 from behind the arc. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel opted to keep Caldwell-Pope in the starting lineup despite the fact that Avery Bradley was healthy and it paid off for both of them. It will be interesting to see if Vogel decides to make Caldwell-Pope the full-time starter even now that Bradley is back from his injury.

Jared Dudley was also productive in his limited minutes, going 3-4 from behind the arc and posting a team-high box plus-minus of +16 before leaving the game early after getting ejected for getting involved in a fight he wasn’t directly involved in. In other words, Dudley is a man of his word.

The Lakers will be back at it on Friday to take on the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat. The two teams played each other earlier in the season and Los Angeles came out on top, but now Miami will have the chance to protect their home floor.

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