Magic at Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers posted the most stunning upset of the NBA season
in their last game and look to follow up the epic victory with another
win when they host the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. Los Angeles outplayed
defending champion Golden State while rolling to a 112-95 victory Sunday, handing the Warriors their sixth loss of the season.
The Lakers have the second-worst record in the NBA but looked nothing like a dismal squad while easy dispatching the defending NBA champions. "I really don't know how we came together for (Sunday's) game," rookie point guard D'Angelo Russell told reporters. "But we did it and shocked a lot of people — we shocked ourselves. We knew what we were capable of, but we did it." Orlando opened a four-game road trip by falling 119-113 to Golden State on Monday to slip five games behind the Chicago Bulls for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. "You have to learn from every loss," guard Victor Oladipo said afterward. "That's what we got to do."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (27-35): Promising forward Aaron Gordon continued his rise with 20 points and matched his career high of 16 rebounds against the Warriors. The 20-year-old Gordon has registered eight double-doubles in the past 17 games after being brought along slowly during his first 1 1/2 NBA seasons. "I knew the big fella (Nikola Vucevic) was out, so I was trying to pick up for some of the scoring," Gordon said afterward. "Just settled in and found the flow."
ABOUT THE LAKERS (13-51): Second-year shooting guard Jordan Clarkson (25) and Russell (21) more than held their own against the All-Star Golden State backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. "We kind of just played at a high level," Clarkson told reporters. "We've got to find a way to tap into that, continue that the rest of the year." Russell has emerged as a bona fide scoring threat by topping 20 points in five of the past six games and is averaging 22.5 points during the stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Vucevic (groin) is questionable for Tuesday's game but he was the hero earlier this season when hitting a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Magic a 101-99 home victory over the Lakers on Nov. 11.
2. Los Angeles veteran Kobe Bryant (shoulder) is expected to play.
3. Orlando reserve G Brandon Jennings scored 20 points against the Warriors after scoring in single digits in six of the previous seven games.