The Los Angeles Lakers secured a thrilling 105-104 victory over the Orlando Magic. The game was defined by a historic milestone for Lebron James and clutch, last-second heroics from Luke Kennard. With LA trailing 104-102, Marcus Smart laced an inbounds pass from the baseline to Kennard on the left wing, and Kennard hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining. Orlando’s Jalen Suggs missed a 77-foot heave at the buzzer, and the Lakers mobbed Kennard near center court, with James picking Kennard up during the celebration.
In this connection, James said: “We had a game plan not to guard the inbounds. Try to make him inbound it to the short corner. Marcus was kind of that free safety. And we were going for the steal first before we were going to foul…”
James’s final stat line-12 points on 5 for 13 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and three steals-was not overwhelming, he still broke Parish’s mark in style. As electric as James’ dunk was early on, it was the team’s execution that occurred between Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean’s play call, Smart’s pass and Kennard’s shot that truly stood out.
Kennard further stated: “Smart had to make a couple reads and ended up finding me there, it was the right read. Make or miss, I think we would have lived with the results because we executed both plays at the end. But it was good that we executed them well.”
