Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - BRUTAL: Luka Dončić Struggles, Lakers Blow Lead, Lose to Magic 110-109

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers blow a big lead as Luca Dantr struggles. They lose to Orlando and seem to be going backwards as the sprint to the playoffs begins. That's next. You are locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locktown Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcasts. This one's always going to be free.

Starting point is 00:00:38 for you. You could be an Apple guy, Andy. You could be a Spotify guy. You could be one of the 37,000 plus subscribers, the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel. But no matter how you're doing it, you're part of making the Lockdowne Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network anywhere, you're going to find podcasts. Like, in probably some places you aren't even looking for them. I'm Brian Komenenski with Andy Kaminowski, who covered the Lakers for nearly 20 years with the LA Times with the Athletic, with the SPN. And this is one of those times, Andy, where you want to see your team starting to put the pieces together, making improvements, and seeming to get ready to peak at the right time. And in that spirit, Tuesday's 110-109 loss to the

Starting point is 00:01:23 magic was none of those things. At best, you could say based off the commentary from the last couple games, that the Lakers have identified the pieces that need to be put together. Like, they've all agreed upon all right these are said pieces these are the things that need to be meshed together so i guess in that sense everyone seems to be in agreement uh it's a nice way of looking at it but in in terms of what they're supposed to do and how to go about doing it and finding any type of cohesion i mean it's funny for all of the concerns about this team defensively and how on paper they do not profile to be a strong defensive team. It is the offense for the last few weeks that has been in the absolute crapper.

Starting point is 00:02:22 And tonight was no exception. It was beyond a disjointed night offensively. It was frankly a weird night offensively between LeBron, Luca and Austin, all four. kind of different reasons and to varying effects. But if you were hoping that after the conversations following the Celtics loss about better ball movement and the search for more offensive cohesion between Luca, Austin, and LeBron, tonight did not put any of your concerns at ease in the slightest. Now, it was one of those nights where, you know, Luca was, it was a struggle for Luca all night. And we'll get to the final play of the game here in a second, which was highly unusual, we'll say. But Luca finished with 22 points, 8 of 24 from the field. He was 2 of 10 from 3 point range.

Starting point is 00:03:27 He was 4 of 9 from the free throw line. nine rebounds and 15 assists. That is a problem in a game where you lose by one. It sure is. Other than playmaking and Luca's playmaking was at times exceptional in this game, 15 assists against two turnovers. Like from a pure quarterbacking standpoint, Luca did a really good job.

Starting point is 00:03:50 But from the perspective of generating his own offense, it was just a stark struggle. right down to the final possession. Yeah. And, you know, so Luca hesitates to be missed the final play of the game. Lakers are down one with about five and a half seconds left. They'd draw an out of bounds play for Luca to get a look. He actually had an open shot. It would have been a long three-pointer, but it was a clean, long three-pointer.

Starting point is 00:04:21 He hesitated, didn't take the shot, passed to LeBron on the wing, and essentially put LeBron in jail. I mean, it was LeBron, you know, he had a... He dropped a grenade in LeBron's lap. He managed to get a three off, but it was a high degree of difficult. Anybody putting that final shot on Lechoke or what, like, you were not watching this game. Like, that was not on LeBron at all. And, you know, and I see some people in the chat and all that asking, you know, why did JJ draw up a three-pointer?

Starting point is 00:04:59 why did you draw a shot for Luca? Why do you drop a three point? You got five and a half seconds left. The goal is to get a clean look and ideally from one of your shot makers. You had the ball in your hands of your MVP candidate and it was open. And you know, you don't stop giving the ball to Luca Donchich because he's two of ten from three point range. You don't try to draw up something for, you know, Rui, who by the way, I just, air ball to his last shot.

Starting point is 00:05:32 You know, nobody on this chat would object to the idea of a play being drawn up for a cold shooting Kobe with five seconds left. Like you give the play to your, you give the ball to your best players and you try to get them to make a shot. If you're three pointers there, you take it. If the jumpers there, you take it. You put the ball on the floor. You take it.

Starting point is 00:05:54 But, you know, you don't have a ton of time to play with the goal is to get a clean shot. They did. Luca didn't take it. It was just, it was one of these nights. He honestly, just to be frank, he just, he kind of froze. He really just hesitated and froze. And then there was, you could see like the thought bubble over Lucas head, like, oh, crap, I got to do something right now.

Starting point is 00:06:19 And the decision was give the ball to LeBron in a horrible position. Like, it's, it is very, very rare. to see Luca make a decision like that. It was. It was very strange, but he did. And it was a night where he struggled on it. You looked up and down this box score and you're like, huh, you know, it was, this had the potential to be one of those games, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:45 where the Lakers had multiple double digit leads, which obviously went away. But you have this opportunity to take games where you're, you know, at this point, I think you call them your two front line players in, in Donchich, Reeves. You know, LeBron was pretty good in this game aside from a couple bad turnovers, very strong early in the game, had some big buckets late. You know, he finished with 21. He had a big defensive mistake down the stretch. You did. I mean, at the very least, it looked like his mistake. I think it was his mistake on. The Lakers wandered off. You know, they collapsed and helped off of leaving Desmond Bayne open on a drive. And LeBron tried to

Starting point is 00:07:28 recover, which could mean it was his guy. I don't know if it looked like it was. The way he reacted like he thought if nothing else was his responsibility at that point. Right. And it may have been. You know, that play. He missed a big play throw two down the stretch. But LeBron, all in all, I actually thought played a pretty good game.

Starting point is 00:07:48 Yeah, I agree. And, you know, DeAndre Aiton, who we'll talk about before the end of the show, he was fantastic, his best game in a long time, 21 points, 13 rebounds. but this had the potential. We'll get back to LeBron too in a second. And the execution, late game execution, which was a big issue for a team

Starting point is 00:08:07 that had actually done that really well in fourth quarters all year. You know, you build up these leads and you kind of stay ahead and you look at it. Like, you know, Luca's not having a good night. AR, who was very good in the second half, did not score in the first. So you're like, okay,

Starting point is 00:08:25 Reeves wasn't very good. in the game. Lucas struggling all game. Orlando is getting a great night from Paulo Bancaro and all this other stuff. And yet the Lakers have an opportunity to take kind of an imperfect win, grind something out, feel pretty good about the effort that you put into it because I agree with JJ who said after game, like they played hard enough to win. This wasn't, you know, the Boston game. This wasn't a game where they played with their food. I don't think it rolled over. They played hard enough to. win. I think the focus and the energy and the effort was there. They stopped executing, though,

Starting point is 00:09:03 down the stretch. The offense got slower and slower and slower. There were so many, you know, late clock forced shots and little mistakes, like you said, the overhelping and leaving Desmond Bain open, not securing an offensive rebound, which led to the Wendell Carter bucket that put them down by one. Like that kind of thing, just, you know, airballing a three-pointer for Rui on a play that was designed and went to a, you know, that's like his bread and butter shot. He airballed it. Like stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:09:42 There was also too. I mean, JJ may have been fine with the energy and effort in this game as far as them playing hard. But you look at Orlando getting 13 offensive rebounds for 15. second chance points and and 58 points in the paint. Like there were, in particular in the first half, what really kept Orlando in the game was the offensive rebounds, the second chance points, and the points in the paint. And the Lakers didn't really do that much better in the second half. they cut down a bit of the second chance points,

Starting point is 00:10:21 but they still allowed Orlando multiple possessions. They clearly allowed Orlando too much ownership of the paint and around the basket. It was not important. After the break, let's talk a little bit about that. And just the failure of execution, which had been a strength of this team, particularly in fourth quarters, particularly in fourth quarters of close games,

Starting point is 00:10:47 because this was a night of bad. firsts for the Lakers, which we'll explain next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. Have you ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live and in person? If you have not, you really should go because it is awesome. FanDuel is giving you the chance to turn that dream into a reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. Use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll be automatically entered for a

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Starting point is 00:12:11 So we'll touch on DeAndre Aiton before the end of this show. We'll get into some of the other things that happen in this and what the Lakers have to look forward to. The stuff before the game, Lon Rosen talked about what the summer could look like and who's going to be in charge and what they're planning on doing. To say the least, it is going to be a busy summer for Rob Polinka. So we will unpack that separately from this one. And I'm sure we'll continue talking about it over the course of the week.

Starting point is 00:12:42 But this is this was a genuinely destructive loss for the team. It's it's not as disheartening in terms of how they played as the Boston game. But it's more in my mind, it is more. damaging because a home loss to a Celtics team that is kind of a bad matchup for you in terms of how they're the amount of wing defenders they have and stuff. Boston's near the top of the Eastern Conference and has been for most of the year. They're a better team than Orlando. You come back from that and you lose this lead to the magic, a lesser team and a sub 500 team on the road. This game damages you more than the Boston game, despite the fact that the Boston

Starting point is 00:13:32 game, from an optic standpoint, was a colossal disaster, especially when you take into account that the magic did not have Franz Wagner and they did not have Jalen Suggs. And you mentioned that perimeter defense and that physicality and toughness, Jalen Suggs is, I think, number one on the magic when it comes to that maybe Jonathan Isaac in his own right. And, you know, they got guys who can defend. But like Jalen Suggs is one of the better defenders in the league around the league. Yeah. Right.

Starting point is 00:14:05 And so the Lakers, they had an opportunity in front of them against a magic team that's down to important players and entered this game four games below 500 on the road. Like, we talked about in the mini show for Tuesday, how the Lakers were entering this critical stretch of games against teams either below 500 on the road or struggling like Orlando. On Thursday, they go to Phoenix that's taken on a Sun's team that is missing several important players.

Starting point is 00:14:44 Like, they need to cash in on this stretch. it is critical for keeping seating in the playoffs, trying to avoid the play. And like, thankfully, they're two and a half games ahead of Phoenix. Boston, Boston at least did the Lakers a solid on Tuesday by beating the suns. But like, okay, so you don't, you don't lose any ground on Phoenix, but you miss an opportunity. Right, exactly.

Starting point is 00:15:09 Like gap between. So where if the Lakers win this game tonight, they gain a gain on Phoenix. You go into Phoenix on Thursday. And if you win that game, I think you're up by four at that point. You've actually given your four and a half, four and a half, something like that. Right. You'd get, I think it'd be four in the lost column, but I have to look it up. You're giving, now you got a real cushion.

Starting point is 00:15:31 Like that could go away, but you've got a real cushion between yourself and a seven seed. If you, if you have a four game lead with 20 something games to play, particularly like you say, Andy, given the fact that Phoenix is down a lot. They started on Tuesday, Royce O'Neill, Ryan Dunn, Mark Williams, Colin Gillespie, and Jalen Green. Yeah. I mean, they don't have Devin.

Starting point is 00:15:57 They're not going to have Devin Booker in this game. They're not going to have Dylan Brooks in this game. I don't think they're going to have Jordan Goodwin in this game. Grayson Allen is a question mark of for Thursday. Last I looked like they, again, the Lakers have an opportunity to get a new winning streak started, cash in at least on that singular opportunity, but it's just really important for them as a team that has struggled to beat the teams above 500 all season. I know Orlando is above 500,

Starting point is 00:16:26 but they have been underperforming this season. And again, they are not a good road team. They've been, this is, I believe, the last game of a long road trip for them. Like, the Lakers, they not only miss out on this opportunity, but also in terms of we've talked about building. Like this is, we described it as the equivalent of like a dress rehearsal, like, in terms of really trying to build yourself into the best version of yourself as you get closer to the playoffs beginning. And like I mentioned, offensively, like the synergy between Luca, Austin, and LeBron. It is just non-existent. Like you will see moments of it. But, But it just feels like the three of them are playing on three separate islands.

Starting point is 00:17:19 And we mentioned like LeBron had 21 points in this game. Ten of them came in the first quarter. And up until the fourth, LeBron seemed pretty quiet. Not because he was playing badly, but more he just seemed kind of oddly uninvolved. And that's what Austin in the first half was kind of like he missed. I think he took five or six shots in the first half. They were actually not bad looks. this was not a question of Reeves not being able to get.

Starting point is 00:17:44 He got into the pan. For three or four of these, I do think he and Luca, though, in the first, Luca and him both in the first half, and I think Luca maybe even a little bit beyond that. I think both of them were very much trying to draw whistles. I know, and that's what I was getting to that. He got some clean looks,

Starting point is 00:18:02 but particularly as the game went, and he just missed him, and that's going to happen. He got rolling a little bit in the second half. But like, that's, even when Luca managed to get good, looks in the second half, even when Reeves, particularly down the stretch, managed to get the ball movement as the game went along, just stopped. I mean, there was, or if it was there, it was dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble,

Starting point is 00:18:28 dribble, dribble, 16 seconds. And then two or three passes to try to find something that worked. Like, you know, one of Luca's, you know, best made shots in the second half was a last 10th of a second on the shot clock when Luke Kinnard basically gave him a grenade because he had nowhere to go. I'm not all. It doesn't matter at this point. I'm not 100% sure that shot really should have.

Starting point is 00:18:53 I don't know. It was so close. It was like, but like you put yourself with like, but Luke Kinnard got the ball in a position with like three and a half seconds, four seconds left on the shot clock. I am a big fan, big fan of what Kinnard does for this team offensively. They're two or three times a game. His gravity allows them to, you know, he gets that ball in the corner with a little pump-pick, puts the ball on the ground, and is able to zip that pass to the opposite corner to somebody for a wide open three.

Starting point is 00:19:28 It happens two or three times a game because it's a good ball handler. He's a very brisk pass or all that stuff. You can't hand the ball to a covered Luke Kinnar. with three or four seconds left on the shot clock and expect good things to happen. That's just not a thing. That is not something. And so like this deliberate nature

Starting point is 00:19:56 of what the Lakers were doing offensively as the game went along, particularly in the ball in the hands of Luca, and it was a game where he kind of pounded the bleep out of the ball on a lot of possessions. it puts people to sleep, including people on your own team. There were a couple times I thought they were going to win.

Starting point is 00:20:18 I thought Andy, when Jake Laravia hit that fourth quarter three, a big shot for a guy who I don't, it seems like hasn't hit a big shot in six weeks. When he took and made that shot about three or four minutes left in the fourth quarter, I was like, I think the Lakers are going to win this game. There were moments like that, but generally speaking,

Starting point is 00:20:39 It's just the whole thing came to a halt in the second half. Yeah. I mean, Palo Bancairo and then Desmond Bain really took over in the second half. Like Desmond Bain had struggled from outside from a lot of this game, but then he made up for lost time. Like Paulo Bancero was just really dominant. I mean, he was the best player on the floor, I think, over the course of this game. For sure.

Starting point is 00:21:06 No question. And, you know, also taking into account that the Lakers not cashing in on opportunities in front of them, I realize Paulo Bancaro is a really good player. I'm a big fan of Bancaro. He struggled a lot this season. Like, this has been a largely down season for Bancero. And obviously, great players find a way or often do at least. But there was just so much.

Starting point is 00:21:33 They find a way against the Lakers. Yeah, they certainly do. Um, it, this is one that is, like you said, this one is going to sting in a lot of ways more than the Celtics lost. Like the Celtics lost, they got their asses handed to them more. And the Pat Riley of it all made it suck in certain ways, like emotionally even more. It was again, optics of it were horrible. But the optics of it were horrible. But that game from about this, you know, halfway through the second quarter on, like basically once Marcus Smart and Austin Reeves got their text.

Starting point is 00:22:06 it was very clear that the Lakers were on tilt. That game was not winnable. This was a winnable game for the Lakers that they really only have themselves to blame for, I mean, give Orlando credit for playing through it and making the adjustments that they did. And, you know, again, Desmond Bain really turning it on when it mattered. But the Lakers blew this opportunity and it's going to bother them and it should. I want to well there are so much stuff I want to get to like people if you missed Tuesday show which we did which is all about Austin Reeves and the summertime things like

Starting point is 00:22:48 we got some great comments about that on the YouTube page and people commenting about the episode want to unpack some of that we're going to get into what Rob Polinka has to look forward to this summer apparently he is going to be the the the guy who not only engineers the rebuild of the roster, but the expansion of the front office this offseason. And so that is something that people are talking about. Next, though, on this show, as we continue talking about Tuesday's loss,

Starting point is 00:23:21 we will get into the major bright spot of this game, which was DeAndre Aiton, and what maybe the Lakers might have found there, which they will need to carry forward. So we'll do that next. Lock on Lakers is brought to you by Indeed, workplace chaos, deadlines, stacking up, inbox, overflowing, and the one position you got to fill, it's still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs.

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Starting point is 00:24:48 This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Quick reminder about the Everyday Air Club. If you're somebody who wants to have a little more interaction with other locked on Lakers listeners and locked on network hosts, you can go to the Discord channel. You get access to those things, Lockdown Lakers and other NBA Discord channels by joining the Everydayer Club. It's $5 a month, $50 a year. Not only do you get the access to the Discord channels that Andy and I are in talking

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Starting point is 00:25:49 we will love you no matter how you take in the program so uh every day i um it's just the there's like the the part of this season that i think we're you know you can kind of look forward to is this question of like, okay, let's see, can they start to put stuff together? What could they look like in the first, you know, as you get to the first round of the playoffs? If they build something over the last 20 plus games of the season, could they be that team that, okay, maybe you're not favored in a first round matchup against Minnesota or Houston or Denver or whatever, but like, they, you know, it's more than a puncher's chance that they could win. Each one of these games is supposed to be a step into that process.

Starting point is 00:26:39 It's not a quick fix, but it's something where you feel like you're building toward that. If the only thing really that I can take from this game and say, okay, maybe that was part of it was not just the work that DeAndre Aiton did because he had a couple little hook shots go in that had been missing and all that. But he was far more involved, I think, and confident in what they were doing in terms of the pick and roll, whether started by Luca,

Starting point is 00:27:11 whether started by Austin, I think LeBron had a couple of those in there. LeBron set him up for a couple lobs. Yeah, for a couple lobs. Like, okay, because if you go back to November when they had that 23 and 11 start and all these other things, that was not coincidentally when DeAndre Aiton was at his best.

Starting point is 00:27:27 So figuring out how to get back to that spot, it at least stands to reason could be part of how do you get to that place that I was just describing where you are the best version of yourself. Obviously, when you're playing at this level of basketball, like it's not always as simple as just involved DeAndre Aiton, get him the ball. But to some degree, it is involved D'Andre Aiden, get him the ball.

Starting point is 00:27:53 Like, he came up as a topic of practice, our topic during practice, topic of conversation. Marcus Smart and Rui were both asked about this, adjustment that Aiton has to make from, you know, being a guy that was picked number one overall and for a while was treated as a franchise cornerstone featured guy, showed up with the Lakers to be more of somewhere in between, you know, one of the guys and a role player. He kind of occupies a bit of a space in between because he really is their only real post presence, unless you're just talking about posting up LeBron. or occasionally posting up Luca. Like it really is DeAndre. The only scoring center. Right.

Starting point is 00:28:40 That's a good way of putting it. And like, Rui talked about how this can be a difficult adjustment. And he said, candidly, he thinks at times it's been difficult for DeAndre. And, you know, he said, like, he had to adjust to a different role. When he came to the Lakers, he thought that the adjustment has been a bit easier for him. But, like, noted at the same time, this is not easy. Marcus Smart said the same thing. Like, this is not easy to do.

Starting point is 00:29:08 And JJ, in noting that D'Andre needs to make sure that he's always being proactive with his energy, like he pointed out of play against the Celtics, where Jalen Brown, I guess, had fallen down. And the Lakers had a five-on-four advantage. But he said D'Andre did not react quickly enough. He said he reacted at basically 20% speed. And that blew the opportunity that they had in that possession. So he wasn't taking an onus away. from Aiton, but at the same time, he said, we got to get him the ball. He's like, there's too many

Starting point is 00:29:38 times where he has mismatches and we don't get him the ball. So it, that piece of this, like in terms of it being at times that simple, give the dude the ball. At times it really is that simple. Like there have been games where I've gone through Aiton's touches and they've been insanely low for a guy that's supposed to be at worst your fifth option maybe your fourth like he needs to be involved more in this game i thought they did a really good job of proactively involving him and he made good on it it's just it's one of those things too where you know at least it's a bit of an antidote to the stagnant nature now you can get stagnant running just you know very predictable just running little pick and roll just running like over and over again um or or you could

Starting point is 00:30:31 just keep scoring. Well, I mean, look, this is a team that is two pick and roll centric. With regardless of DeAndre Aiton, they can be two pick and roll centric anyway. But at least, at least with Aiton, like the way when this, when they get into a nice groove with these things, it, at least you're involved in somebody who's not one of the, your big three. Sure. Because it is, it is, I, I am not, you and I spent far too long, talking about why Rui need to come off the bench to say Rui shouldn't be coming off the bench.

Starting point is 00:31:04 But we also said even at the time, like when you put him on the bench, you're going to need to make sure you can find ways to make sure that he's still a big part of your offense. And that has been a challenge. Some of that's on Rui needing to be a little bit more aggressive.

Starting point is 00:31:19 He had, he was hit four of his seven shots. And this one, he did play 26 minutes. You'd want to see his shot volume go up a little bit. If he's going to be on the floor. for seven. That open corner three that he airballed. Ooh, that one hurt. That needed to go in.

Starting point is 00:31:34 That one hurt. It's just, yeah. When you lose these games, the Lakers have not lost a game. I mean that in the most literal sense. They've won every game that they've led after three quarters. I think now that this is their second or third loss after, you know, in clutch time or whatever. But in terms of games that they were ahead at the end of three, I'm, I'm sure if you go back and you watch the tape on a lot of those other games that they won,

Starting point is 00:32:02 you can find moments of execution where they did the wrong thing or this, that, whatever. But like this was one of those things. It was really noticeable. Three or four mistakes that just jump off the screen where you don't need to be, you know, a 30-year college coach or NBA coach to notice that, oh, geez, why did they help off of Desmond Bain? Oh, man, you have to get, you know, you've got to find a body with seven seconds left

Starting point is 00:32:34 in the game and the shot goes up. Everybody's got to box out. Like, they teach you that in fourth grade. You know, when you draw up the play, hit iron. The Lakers got lucky. They ended up getting the ball back on that play. But like, you just, those are, that was a well-executed play to get Rui Hachamora

Starting point is 00:32:54 a corner three. And he airballed it. Yeah. And, you know, which is rare, man. That doesn't happen often. It isn't. That's why they drew it up that way. You know, Luca who and Dan Wakey tweeted it out, like Luca was asked about this obviously

Starting point is 00:33:08 after the game. And he said, I know I was open. I just thought it was a little too far. And then he, you know, he hesitated. He looked to pass the ball. But it's like, you drew up a play. And yeah, would you have liked it to be 10 feet closer? Sure.

Starting point is 00:33:21 But that's a wide open three from a distance that Luca will take two or three of those a game anyway. You only got five seconds left. You got a clean look. And they didn't take the shot. Just four, five, six mistakes that are really obvious in the last three or four minutes of this game. And it's like, oh, there you go. Now you lose the game.

Starting point is 00:33:48 I mean, it was so out of character for Luca. Like you mentioned, he will take threes farther, further. than that while more covered and frankly more irresponsible. He's not shy. Right. Then that one, you just, I mean, you wonder, and Luca is not a player who lacks for confidence, if this was a moment where the game that he was having and the struggles that he was having just for that one moment made him hesitate.

Starting point is 00:34:17 And like just, and you only have like, what, three to four moments. It's five seconds on the clock. You don't really have that long to think about anything. it led to LeBron being put in an absolute no-win situation and he lost. Yeah. All right. So we'll get into for Wednesday afternoon this question of a very busy summer for Rob Polenka, a lot on his plate.

Starting point is 00:34:47 And whether or not this is the right path for the Lakers, the Lakers obviously need to prepare to win a game on Thursday. Like no messing around. I win this game. Lock on Lakers on YouTube is where you're going to go hang out with over 37,000 subscribers to the channel. We'll see everyone next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - BRUTAL: Luka Dončić Struggles, Lakers Blow Lead, Lose to Magic 110-109

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