LOS ANGELES — Playing against one of the league’s biggest and best defensive teams, Lakers coach JJ Redick emphasized the importance of physicality.
And he acknowledged that aspect of the game as something he’ll “probably” reinforce with his team, at least every now and then.
And when it mattered most Thursday night, the Lakers met physicality with physicality. But crucial missed free throws down the stretch came back to haunt them, resulting in a 119-118 loss to the Orlando Magic on Franz Wagner’s step-back 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left.
It was the Lakers’ first loss in eight games at Crypto.com Arena this season and it snapped their six-game winning streak.
Davis led the Lakers with 39 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists, and LeBron James finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, scoring 14 points in the fourth.
But the Lakers’ stars both missed free throws in the clutch, as the Lakers shot 3 for 9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to leave the door ajar for an Orlando team that was playing without three of its usual starters in its third game in four nights.
“Any loss is frustrating,” Anthony Davis said. “More frustrating for me because I’m the one who missed the free throws.”
James split a pair of free throws with 39 seconds left, putting the Lakers up by only three (117-114) instead of four. Davis split a pair of free throws 12 seconds later, with the Lakers giving up a layup to Wagner that trimmed the Magic’s deficit to two with 20 seconds left.
Davis stepped back to the free-throw line after Orlando intentionally fouled with 19 seconds left, but the All-Star big man missed both free throws.
Wagner then hit his 3-pointer from over Cam Reddish from the top of the arc to give the Magic the lead with 2.5 seconds left. Davis missed an 18-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer to seal the defeat for the Lakers.
“Didn’t love the thought process and the mindset when Wagner hit the 3,” Redick said. “We talk all the time about just our isos, like, we don’t wanna allow 3s in isos. Late-game especially.”
Austin Reaves (nine points) also missed a pair of free throws at the 3:40 mark in the fourth, meaning the Lakers missed six of eight free throws in the final four minutes.
“[Davis] wasn’t the only one who missed,” Reaves said. “As a collective. we didn’t shoot the free throw good in the fourth quarter and that’s ultimately the reason we lost the game. Obviously, he does so much for our team that two missed free throws ain’t gonna change anything.”
The Lakers shot 65.4% (17 for 26) from the foul line for the night.
“Every loss is frustrating, every loss is frustrating,” Redick said. “There’s certain losses that you could point to a lack of, I don’t want to call it a lack of effort, but like a lack of will and competitiveness and physicality to start a game and then you’re having to fight that. Frankly, it swung on our missed free throws [on Thursday].”
James also pointed to the third quarter, in which the Magic outscored the Lakers 29-21, after scoring 67 first-half points as an issue for the Lakers. The Magic had a 89-88 going into the fourth.
“It’s a 48-minute game, you can’t just point to the free throws,” he said. “You want to try to close out the game. We had our chances. We missed them and you move on. What’d we do in the third quarter? We came out and lost the lead. We had a seven-point lead at halftime and they took the lead in the third.
“You can’t just point to one thing. Obviously, you have your opportunity at the free throw line. We didn’t capitalize. You move on from that.”
Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht had 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting (3 for 7 from 3-point range).
Wagner led the Magic with 37 points (15 in the fourth quarter), 11 assists, six rebounds and four steals. Jalen Suggs added 23 points, five assists, five rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
Orlando’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed the game for personal reasons, while Wendell Carter Jr. (plantar fasciitis) missed his 10th straight game. All-Star forward Paolo Banchero (oblique) is still out.
