ORLANDO, Fla. — The game was sliding away, and with it, possibly his command on the Lakers, when Frank Vogel made a switch. Even though he’d relied on Dwight Howard to help fix some of the Lakers’ defensive issues, the Magic had scored 62 first-half points — the worst team in the NBA feasting against the Lakers’ dissent into chaos.
But Vogel went against his gut, swapping Stanley Johnson for the future Hall of Famer to start the second half and kick-starting a Lakers run that temporarily eased some of the pressure on the team.
With the court open and the Lakers now hitting shots and getting stops, the game totally turned, ending with a 116-105 win.
