Play.
Westbrook responded to his poor performance with a double-double.
The Lakers beat the Magic 116-105 as Russell Westbrook rebounded from his poor performance against the Pacers. The song is called "2.
12:14 AM
The Los Angeles Lakers' 116-105 win over the Magic on Friday was the start of their six-game road trip, and it was made up for by Russell Westbrook, who showed up ready to play after leaving Wednesday's loss to Indiana.
"My job as a player is to do my job, continue to find ways to be able to help impact winning, and that's what I'm trying to do as a professional," he said after finishing with 18 points, 11 rebound, 7 assists and 3 steals. I turned the page to do what I was thinking about and that's what I tried to do tonight.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel was effusive in his praise for the decision he made to sit Russell Westbrook for the last four minutes of the loss to the Pacers as the point guard was struggling through a 5-for-17 shooting night and failing to execute defensively.
Russ played a great basketball game. He came into the game very focused and energetic. He just wanted to impose his will and play his part.
The Lakers fell down by 10 to the Magic but took control of the game in the third quarter.
It was the first time in his career that he had gone 10 games without scoring 20 or more points, but he made a difference with the nature of those points.
"He has great attacks," said James, who scored 29 points and extended his streak to 16 straight games with 25 points or more. I thought he did a great job getting to the paint for his shot or spraying it out. Guys just played off of his effort tonight.
The man who scored 23 points off the bench credited the player with playing with more of a controlled pace. The Lakers are back to.500 after the win, and it's because of the play of Russell Westbrook, who said his paint touches are a way to help.
He said that getting in the paint and finding ways to make an impact was what he was doing. I think I can make an impact with this team and find ways to give guys easy shots because I'm good at putting pressure on the defense.
For the team and its fans, it was nice to hear that the postgame comments were focused on the ins and outs of the actual game, not on where the Lakers' season is going, as has happened so often since he came to L.A.
"Russ is a high character guy," he said. We knew we were going to respond. We communicated afterwards to make sure we understood what was happening. The page should be turned to Orlando. We're all committed to this group getting the job done because he did a great job of maintaining that focus. We believe in what we can do. It has been a rough year. We're committed.
L.A. will travel to Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Atlanta before returning to Los Angeles.
"We started it off with a win tonight," he said. We can come out of Miami with a win as well.
It's a big trip for us. A good bonding and togetherness trip for our group and finding ways to be able to come together and come out with some wins and create some rhythm, some confidence in our group that we should be."
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