Coming into Friday nights showdown on Espn the talk was who is the better big man, Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum? That question was CLEARLY answered. Howard scored 23 points and grabbed 21 rebounds while keeping Bynum in foul trouble.
Orlando came out firing on all cylinders and locking the Lakers up defensively (more like LA couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat).
The Magic’s balanced attack would give them a 22-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Howard’s early offensive post game would put Bynum in foul trouble, placing Pau Gasol on Dwight which is not a good look for the Lakers.
“I tried to play aggressive defense on him (Dwight) but go in early foul trouble and that was it,” Bynum said.
If you expected to see great offense in this game you were in for a disappointment. Los Angeles shot 38% from the field, Orlando 41%.
The Magic took a 48-31 lead into the intermission.
Los Angeles would play a better second half, moving the ball and getting it inside to Pau cutting the deficit to 74-66 mid way through the 4th quarter. However, a Kobe technical would ignite an 8-0 Magic run pushing the lead to 16 and Orlando would never look back.
“I just think we came out and were aggressive from the beginning of the game,” Howard said. “We ran, we did a good job with our defensive assignments and we got a good win.”
The Lakers are now 1-6 on the road and have gone 10 straight games without scoring 100 points, 3rd longest in franchise history.
“We just have to keep playing,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “There’s no magic dust or no magic potion to be able to get us to get wins on the road. We have to just keep trying to executive offensively.”
Bryant who leads the NBA in scoring with 30.1 points per game finished the night with a game high 30 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds followed by Gasol’s 13.
“We had a lot of open looks, a lot of open looks and they didn’t fall,” Bryant said. “Our guys are much better shooters then what it says on the stat sheet. Just have to get ready for the next game.”
All 5 of the Magic starters reached double figures including Jameer Nelson’s 17 points 9 assists.
Orlando (11-4) will travel to play the Boston Celtics Monday night at 7:30.
