Ryan Kelly and Jeremy Lin were on target for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, but it was not enough as they took a 103-97 loss to the Orlando Magic at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.
Kelly top-scored for the Lakers with 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the field with five three-pointers, while Lin added 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting with two three-pointers, but the Lakers failed to protect their lead in the final period, allowing the Magic to mount a comeback.
The Lakers were in control and looked on their way to grabbing their 14th win of the season, but they blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Magic forced an extra period and took control in overtime to escape with a come-from-behind victory in front of their home crowd.
Tobias Harris had a career night for the Magic as he erupted for 34 points on 14-for-18 shooting, while also tallying seven rebounds and two assists. Nikola Vucevic added 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Victor Oladipo tallied 12 points to go along with 11 rebounds and five assists.
Highlights of the Lakers-Magic match are available on this link.
With the win, the Magic snapped their 10-game losing skid and improved to 16-37, but are still seven games behind in the race for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. The Lakers, on the other hand, dropped to 13-37, the second-worst record in the Western Conference standings.
The Lakers have now lost three-straight games and sources indicated that they have been active in trades in the hope of getting pieces that would speed up their rebuilding process.
Lin, who is averaging 10.4 points to go along with 4.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds for the Lakers this season, is being mentioned in several trade rumors over the past several weeks.
According to reports, the Lakers have been shopping the 26-year-old point guard, but they have yet to find an intriguing offer that would convince them to pull the trigger and part ways with the former Harvard University standout, who moved to Los Angeles from Houston Rockets in the offseason.
According to Sean Deveney of Sporting News, the Lakers will move Lin for future assets, but they are not receiving strong offers from teams because of the fifth-year guard's struggles this season.
"While some of that has been the result of a bad fit in LA, it's also been Lin's own struggles with his shooting, particularly from mid-range," Deveney wrote. "He would make a good backup point guard, and the Lakers would move him if they could get an asset in return, but the market for Lin has been weak."
