Boracay Island, Philippines – Markelle Fultz had 21 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and 1 steal in his second career triple-double performance to propel the Orlando Magic past the streaking LA Lakers 119-118 on Wednesday night (Thursday morning, Philippine time) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Orlando had five other guys in double figures, led by Aaron Gordon’s 21. Nikola Vucevic and Wes Iwundu, who started in place of the injured Evan Fournier, added 19 points apiece.
They now improved to 20 wins and 21 losses for 7th spot in the Eastern Conference team standings after snapping the Lakers’ 9-game winning streak.
LeBron James had 19 points and career-high 19 assists, but committed 5 turnovers for Los Angeles, who were without Anthony Davis due to a Gluteus Maximus contusion.
Quinn Cook topscored for the Lakers with 22 markers off the bench. Former Magic star and now Lakers center Dwight Howard added 9 points and 16 boards on a reserve role.
The Lakers, who dropped to a 33-8 win-loss card, are still atop the Western Conference team standings. They will travel to Houston to face the Rockets on Saturday night (Sunday morning, Philippine time).
Meanwhile, the Orlando Magic will stay in Los Angeles to face the Clippers on Thursday night (Friday morning, Philippine time).
How they scored:
Magic 119 – Fultz 21, Gordon 21, Vucevic 19, Iwundu 19, Ross 15, Clark 10, Johnson 9, Bamba 5
Lakers 118 – Cook 22, James 19, Daniels 17, Cardwell-Pope 17, McGee 14, Green 11, Howard 9, Kuzma 4, Dudley 3, Bradley 2
AROUND THE LEAGUE: (Road Team – Home Team)
DET 116 – 103 BOS BKN 106 – 117 PHI SAS 100 – 106 MIA TOR 130 – 121 OKC WSH 106 – 115 CHI IND 104 – 99 MIN CHA 86 – 100 DEN POR 117 – 107 HOU DAL 127 – 123 SAC
GAMES TODAY, JANUARY 17, 2020 CT
PHX @ NYK 8:30 AM CT BOS @ MIL 9:00 AM CT UTAH @ NOP 9:00 AM CT DEN @ GSW 11:30 AM CT ORL @ LAC 11:30 AM CT
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