The Los Angeles Lakers lost their first home game of the season on Thursday night, falling to the Orlando Magic after a last-second 3-pointer from Franz Wagner. However, the Magic were in that position because the Lakers missed key free throws, with LeBron James making just one of two and Anthony Davis missing three in the final minute.
Many will point to these missed free throws as the reason the Lakers lost, especially Davis’ missed shots, as Wagner’s game-winning shot came after Davis missed two of his. But LeBron doesn’t agree and doesn’t think the missed free throws were the main reason for the loss.
“No, I mean, we had our chances, but they played well,” James said after the game. “We played well. I mean, obviously the biggest bucket of the night, obviously from Franz [Wagner], but, I mean, we put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just didn’t come through for it.”
LeBron went on to explain his point of view.
“Because it’s a 48-minute game, you can’t just point to the free throws,” he said. “Obviously, you want to try to close out the game. We had our chances. We missed them, and you move on. But if you just, what we do in the third quarter, we got outscored, 29-21, we came out and lost the lead.
“We had a seven-point lead at halftime, and they took the lead in the third, so there’s a lot of game between the game. You can’t just point to one thing. Obviously, you have your opportunity at the free-throw line. We didn’t capitalize, but we move on from that.”
As LeBron pointed out, the Lakers struggled in the third quarter when they should’ve extended their lead. On top of that, the Lakers’ defense was poor, allowing a Magic team that averages under 107 points per game and shoots less than 31% from beyond the arc to score 119 points and make 15 three-pointers.
While the missed free throws were a big factor in the loss, LeBron is right that there were other areas of the game where the Lakers could’ve done more to secure a win before it even reached that point.
LeBron James also gave credit to Franz Wagner for his game-winning shot.
“I mean, but it’s you tip your hat,” LeBron said about Wagner’s shot. “I mean, Cam [Reddish] played great defense on his shot. A stepback 3 from way beyond the 3-point line. You tip your hat on that.”
