Anthony Davis was on his way to another MVP-caliber performance as the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Orlando Magic at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.
The 31-year-old superstar has emerged as one of the early season favorites for the award after going on a tear to start the year, and he maintained that level of play for much of Thursday’s game before missing three free throws that proved critical in the Lakers’ one-point loss to the Magic, their first home loss of the season.
Davis still proved pivotal for the Lakers, keeping them in position to win the game for much of the evening as he recorded 39 points, nine rebounds, and two assists. He shot 63.6 percent from the field and was 10 of 13 on free throws, with all three of his misses coming during the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for Davis, the rest of his stellar performance was overshadowed by those missed free throws, which could have been the difference in the game. Since Davis was unable to put the game out of reach, Magic small forward Franz Wagner managed to hit the game-winning three with just 2.5 seconds left, leading to Orlando’s win.
“Any loss is frustrating,” Davis said, via Dave McMenamin.
“It’s more frustrating for me because I’m the one who missed the free throws. But any loss is frustrating.”
Davis’s missed free throws are of course not the only reason the Lakers fell short of the victory. The Lakers had a seven-point halftime lead over the Magic, but were outscored the Magic in the third quarter, keeping Orlando in position for a comeback win.
“It’s a 48 minute game, you can’t just point to the free throws,” LeBron James said after the game. “You obviously want to close out the game, we had our chances. We missed them, and you move on. In the third quarter, we got outscored 29-21. We came out, lost our leeway … there’s a lot of game between the game, you can’t just point to one thing.
Even though he came up short in the clutch, Davis is still the engine of this Lakers offense. He recorded his tenth game with 30 or more points, and remains second in the NBA in scoring by averaging
