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Magic coach Steve Clifford praised D.J. Augustin for his selfless play as a goalkeeper who leads the team as a distributor.
Augustine was right where Clifford needed him Saturday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. But the veteran playmaker also showed that he still had plenty of ability to score.
Augustin had 22 points, a high in the season, and seven assists. He seemed to be at the center of every key game as he helped lead the Magic to a 130-117 win over the Lakers at the Amway Center.
"I just take what the game gives me," said Augustin, who was 7 out of 9 from the field, including 3 out of 3 from the 3-point line. "I always go out there and look for my teammates, and make sure the foul is organized and we take care of the ball and play the right games."
To play well in Magic, you often had to find Nikola Vucevic. The 7-foot center scored 36 points, a top in the game, including 16 in the third quarter, while the Magic enjoyed long periods in which the Lakers tried to protect him with a smaller player.
"My teammates managed to create good screens for me and to open up and find me in the right places," said Vucevic, 15, out of 23, who also scored 13 rebounds, a top in the game. "The coach insists that we exploit the fact that when they become small, use it to our advantage to try to get things easy. Tonight we played good pieces. "
Evan Fournier finished with 15 points, Terrence Ross has 13, and Jonathon Simmons and Aaron Gordon each have 12 while the Magic put six double-digit players and ended the series of four victories of the Lakers.
During the process, the Magic, whose 130 points were the highest of the season, rose to 8-8 and seems to have placed the mark 2-6 they held a few weeks ago in the rearview mirror. They have now defeated the 76ers and Lakers in consecutive games.
"We have been able to react and play much better in the last eight games," said Vucevic. "But we are at the beginning of the season and we have not done anything yet. We can not be satisfied at all.
"We know what works for us. We just have to continue like this.
Orlando took control in the middle of the quarter when he beat Los Angeles by a combined score of 75-50.
"So good victory. I mean very good second and third quarters, and then you know that they've downsized by the end of the third, "said Clifford, whose team led with up to 21 points.
LeBron James finished with 22 points to lead the Lakers, who saw their bench surpass their starters 59-58. Former Magic goalkeeper Lance Stephenson, who was covered with nonsense at times during the game, led the Lakers Reserve with 19 points.
But the seventh-largest crowd in the history of the Magic franchise – announced at 19,249 – came to watch James with his new team.After nine points in the first quarter, James was held in check, l & # 39; Magic striker, Jonathan Isaac, giving him significant defensive minutes.
Isaac said his goal was to keep James on the front and make him take pictures of the perimeter.
"It was hard. Protecting it is difficult, "said Isaac, who finished with a record five blocks. "I'm glad I did a good job. I'm just trying to stay in front of him and have him shoot at the jumpers. "
Augustin and the Magic, meanwhile, organize an offensive clinic.
"They took a rhythm. This team played very well at home, "said James of Magic. "We know that they scored the ball at a high level, a high shot, and after that first quarter, we had no more defensive keys because we were used to the last games and they gave us charge. "
Augustin and Vucevic were in the middle of this rhythm.
Augustin scored nine of the Magic's last 18 points in the first half and concocted another basket to help turn a four-point lead into a 62-53 advantage at the break.
After a Ross 3 pointer raised the score to 42-37, Augustin followed with 3 points back to back to make it 50-42. He then began a quick 4-in-1 break – with James being that one – with a flight before giving in to Gordon for an emphatic dunk slam.
Vucevic then converted a focus before emptying a 3-point indicator with 0.9 seconds in half.
Augustin buried a local 3 and fed Vucevic for an easy dunk while the Magic scored eight of the first ten points in the third quarter to go 70-55. The Lakers rallied in a 72-64 free-kick from JaVale McGee before the Magic started to go away. Gordon scored a local 3 after conceding an Augustine pass, then Augustine and Vucevic converted consecutive layups to finish a 15-4 run that raised the score to 87-68 at 4:31.
"It's hard for the teams to keep us in pick-and-roll because Vooch can shoot so well," said Augustin. "So when I go out and hide these guards, I have either a clear path to the goal to play a game or I have it on the jump back." I think they had problems with that tonight and it worked really well for us.
The Magic increased their lead to 108-88 with 9:16 to go before the Lakers joined the smaller formation mentioned by Clifford. Los Angeles closed at 115-105 on a Michael Beasley offensive coup with 4:34 to play.
Clifford returned to his starting lineup and Vucevic quickly converted a three-point game as the Magic worked to halt the race. The Lakers, with James on the bench, were no closer than 10.
As the last few seconds passed, Stephenson held the ball near downtown. Instead of letting the time run out, he dribbled back to the basket, taking some Magic players out of hand, and made an insignificant layup.
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