Lakers at Magic
The Los Angeles Lakers are rolling along with wins in four straight and six of seven as early-season chemistry issues begin to iron themselves out. The Lakers will try to make it five in a row when they visit the Orlando Magic on Saturday in the opener of a three-game road trip.
The biggest challenge for Los Angeles on Saturday might be keeping star forward LeBron James focused on the present with trips to his former homes Miami and Cleveland upcoming on the road trip, but James insists he is all about helping his new team improve steadily. "I’m not one to put a cap on how many games we need to see where we are," James told reporters after scoring 44 points to move into fifth place on the all-time scoring list in Wednesday's 126-117 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. "I think we want to just try to get better each and every month. I believe we’re better here in November than we were in October. If we continue on this trend, we will be where we want to be after the New Year." Orlando comes in with some momentum as well after overcoming a 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit and earning a 111-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. "We've got a lot of firepower, we've got a lot of guys who can play and a lot of guys who care about winning on this team," Orlando forward Aaron Gordon told reporters.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), FS Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (8-6): One of the things making Los Angeles better of late is the presence of veteran defensive anchor Tyson Chandler, who is 4-0 in his Lakers career while helping solidify the defense in an average of 22 minutes on the floor. "I think Tyson has enhanced what we've done, but I think more importantly, even before Tyson's arrival, we were starting to find our niche defensively, understanding how we need to play, what's the key to success for us and that's rebounding and limiting 3-point shots," James told reporters. James is averaging 29.8 points during the winning streak.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (7-8): Reserve shooting guard Terrence Ross scored 15 points in Wednesday's win, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 8.7 seconds remaining. "We’re resilient and we keep fighting," Ross told reporters. "We always want to make a push. You can't be too high when you're up or too low when you're down, so you just have to keep playing no matter what." Gordon scored 17 points in the win and is 15-of-26 from the floor in two games since sitting out a win over the New York Knicks on Sunday with an ankle injury.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lakers PG Rajon Rondo underwent surgery on Thursday to repair a broken hand and is expected to miss 4-5 weeks.
2. Orlando C Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 30 points in Wednesday's win.
3. James is 867 points behind Michael Jordan for fourth place on the all-time scoring list.