The Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating the Magic (129-110). Los Angeles controlled the game for the most part, winning three of the four quarters.
One of the issues that the Purple and Gold have been facing is poor third quarters. The Lakers did lose the third quarter against the Magic as well, but only by a single point.
After the game Lakers head coach Darvin Ham talked about his team’s third quarters and how he and the players approached this game.
“Just that realization that we hadn’t been for the most of the season that’s been a soft spot for us,” Ham said. “So just trying to come out, we talked about it this morning shoot around just really focusing on ourselves and different ways we can better and that was one of them. Just making sure we came out with a competitive defensive focus.
“We were plus one for the quarter. It’s just a never-ending journey just trying to improve day after day, game after game, each shoot around. We barely get to practice, so shoot arounds become like our practices.
“Today we did a lot of things where we needed to clean up ourselves. It was more about this morning that Orlando, all due respect to Orlando they’re a great young ball club, but we needed to focus on ourselves and do some self-checks basketball-wise.”
Both teams are occupying 13th places in their respective conferences.
