Botched final play between Luka, LeBron dooms Lakers vs. Magic

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic 110-109 on Tuesday after a sloppy out-of-bounds play between LeBron James and Luka Doncic in the final seconds failed to produce a quality shot.

After Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. scored on a putback with 6.7 seconds remaining to give Orlando a lead, Los Angeles called a timeout. On the ensuing play, James passed the ball to an open Doncic, who caught it on the left wing beyond the 3-point line but chose not to shoot.

“I know I was open, but I just thought I was a little far away,” Doncic said. “I tried to dribble closer. And I probably shouldn’t have gotten the ball and just tried to attack.”

Once he stopped his dribble, Doncic was immediately double-teamed by the Magic’s Paolo Banchero and Anthony Black. He paused, pivoted and returned the ball to James, who was covered by Orlando’s Jonathan Isaac on the wing.

James caught the pass with 2.9 seconds remaining, turned away from Isaac and fired a 27-foot fadeaway 3-pointer that missed the buzzer.

“I thought he had a good look, and it looked like he just lost his balance,” James said when asked for an explanation of what was wrong. “I didn’t have any rhythm with the ball, no matter what. And that kind of allowed [Orlando’s defense] to return to him. And I was a little unhinged when he gave it to me. I thought he had a great look. That’s my point of view.”

Doncic, who was 8 of 24 for the game and 2 of 10 from 3, was asked if his shooting struggles came to mind when he turned down the initial shot.

“Maybe a little,” he said. “I think I thought it was more time. It was what, six, seven seconds. It was enough time to see better, try to drive the ball, that’s why I chose [up my dribble]”.

Doncic said he didn’t talk to James about the play after the game.

Asked if he thought James would have a good chance of winning if he passed him, Doncic — who had a season-high 15 assists — said he thought James did.

“I mean, I just saw him open and I didn’t want to lose the ball,” Doncic said. “We had no downtime… [But] I shouldn’t have picked up the ball. I should have attacked. …It’s my fault.”

The inbounds play was one of several missed opportunities that caused Los Angeles to blow a 12-point second-half lead and lose for the first time all season when they led after three quarters after being up 25-0.

James missed a free throw with 44.7 seconds left that would have put Los Angeles up by 3, and Orlando’s Desmond Bane made a 3 on the next possession to give the Magic a one-point lead.

After Banchero missed a rebound shot with 10.5 seconds left with LA leading by one point, the Lakers failed to secure the defensive rebound, leading to Carter’s go-ahead shot.

The loss to Orlando dropped the Lakers’ record to 4-4 in their eight home games. They hit the road to face the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, followed by the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

“It’s a little upsetting,” Lakers center Deandre Ayton said of the home losses. “We still had a lot of chances to be in the best possible position. We felt weird at home, going 4-4. Those were tough losses and we played against some really good teams. But… go back to the lab and get ready for the next game.”