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The Los Angeles Lakers squandered an opportunity to steal a W from a tired New Orleans Pelicans squad on Thursday night. They made dumb decisions down the stretch and let a lead slip away for a road loss 128-125. Brandon Ingram was still sidelined with his groin injury, but he should be returning to the lineup soon.
The Lakers missed their first couple shots in a sloppy fashion, then they were saved by the Notorious KCP with three straight triples. That was encouraging, but their defense was missing a step and the Pelicans took advantage with some frustratingly wide open shots under the hoop. The Pels already had 21 points with six minutes remaining in the first, most of which were off horrendously bad rim protection by the Lakeshow. Even though the Pelicans feasted on the Lakers' rim, LA responded with some perimeter buckets of their own and had the upper hand 44-40 after one.
The Pelicans quickly tied it up with a couple two's and a three 47-47. New Orleans kept pushing the pace and muscled their way to a 5-point lead 52-47. Lonzo tried to get the Laker's mojo back with a highlight reel dunk, but Anthony Davis met him at the rim with a fat swat. The score bounced around from being a 2-6 point lead for both sides, but the constant was the Pelican's points in the paint (46) and the Laker's turnovers (10). Neither team was playing defense though. The Pelicans played three games in three nights so they were too tired to bother with that. There were 19 lead changes and 16 ties in the first half, and our score was at 73-71 after the buzzer with the Lakeshow up.
The Pels came out swinging and jumped out to a six-point lead 86-80 to start the third quarter. Just like in the first quarter, Kentavius Caldwell Pope sunk some three's to bring the Lakers back and the score near-even 85-86. The score was already 90-88 with six minutes left in the third! Kyle Kuzma started heating up for LA from beyond the arc, he had 20 with four and a half left in the third thanks to his three's (4) and free throws (7/8). Finally, someone from the team with the worst free throw percentages was getting to the line and hitting his shots. The Lakeshow finished the third quarter strong with a double-digit lead, 108-97.
The home team struck back and made a statement when Rajan Rondo took the ball straight down the court for an and-1 bucket to bring the score to 108-100. He penetrated the Laker defense a couple more times for a shot at the rim and some attempted assists. The Lakers kept it at a 6 point lead for a while, but New Orleans went on a mini-run to narrow it to 1, 116-115. It got really heated as both teams exchanged baskets to keep it within one.
Rajan Rondo hit a wide-open three and got a speedy layup to bring the Pelicans up by one 126-125. The Lakers were sagging far off him and he made them pay. He tried a shot again to give them some room, but he rimmed it out. The Lakers responded with a Lonzo Ball brick. He just couldn't get anything going tonight. The Lakers defended excellently on the ensuing possession and they forced a 24-second violation and had the ball with 30 seconds left. They had a chance to go ahead but Lonzo jacked it up again - and missed. Anthony Davis went to the line to put the Pelicans up by 3, 128-125 with 4.6 seconds remaining. KCP received an ill-advised inbound pass and he threw it away straight to Anthony Davis, which effectively ended the game with a Pelicans victory.
Rajan Rondo (24 points, 10 assists, 2 rebounds) and Anthony Davis (33 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists) were the dynamic duo for New Orleans, and Jrue Holiday had some solid contributions too (26 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds). It was an impressive win for them given the fact that this was their third game in three nights. The Western Conference playoff race is incredibly tight for all the teams below the top two seeds, so they needed this W to solidify their place in the standings. The Pelicans will have their hands full when they face the #1 seed Houston Rockets on Saturday
This was another soul-killing game for LA who are on a 4 game losing streak. They beat themselves at the end with bad decisions. Lonzo's persistent three-point shooting down the stretch hindered their hopes of maintaining a lead and coming back. He really needs to add some floaters or improve his free throw shooting to fall back on when his 3-ball isn't falling.
They've shown a pattern of letting leads slip away in this depressing 4-game stretch. Even though Lonzo's shots didn't fall at the end, the main reason they lost was that their defense was atrocious. Maybe Brandon Ingram's eventual return will provide a boost. The Lakers might be able to bounce back against another Western Conference cellar-dweller when they face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday on the road.
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