Coming into tonight’s matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Lakers were the hottest team in the Western Conference as winners of six straight games. At the Crypto.com arena, against a 17-44 Pelicans team, the stage was set for the Lakeshow to defend homecourt and continue their run of excellence in the Luka Doncic era.
Zion Williamson had one of his strongest showings of the season tonight, but the Pelicans couldn’t overcome the Lakers’ offensive onslaught, which scored at least 33 points in every quarter (36, 33, 33, 34) in the 15-point win (136-115).
This game’s result was utterly predictable from the start for two teams at opposite ends of the standings, and we saw tonight what makes them so far apart on the championship spectrum this season.
For the Lakers, Luka Doncic put on a show tonight with 30 points, eight rebounds, and 15 assists on 9-19 shooting. LeBron James, who surpassed another historic milestone in the game, finished with 34 points, eight rebounds, and six assists in 33 minutes. Off the bench, Dalton Knecht had a nice recovery game with 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists on 5-9 shooting.
The Pelicans were led by Zion Williamson, who dropped a game-high 37 points, four rebounds, and six assists on 17-23 shooting. Trey Murphy III finished with 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists on 6-12 shooting. Jordan Hawkins finished with 17 points, four rebounds, and one assist in 29 minutes while coming off the bench.
The season is far from over, and the Lakers still have work to do in order to fully integrate Luka Doncic. Tonight, however, they proved that their recent string of good play is no fluke and cruised to victory due to several key factors.
Nine Threes For Lakers Duo
The story of the game has to be the shooting from LeBron and Luka tonight. The new duo combined to go 11-23 (47.8%) from beyond the arc in arguably their best shooting display yet as a duo. For the Lakers, it’s a great sign of how their chemistry has developed as teammates.
Luka Doncic carried the team through the first three-quarters of the game (30 points, eight rebounds, 15 assists) but LeBron James (34 points, eight rebounds, six assists) stepped up when needed. In the fourth quarter, he really got cooking with 11 points in the final 12 minutes alone.
LeBron and Luka were able to get to their spots tonight and the offense was flowing clean. Their good shooting not only helped stack up the scoreboard, but it also opened up the floor for their teammates – and especially those in the frontcourt who cut to the rim.
Jaxson Hayes Proves He’s A Viable Starter
Lakers fans initially griped at the prospect of canceling the deal that would have sent Mark Williams to play with Luka Doncic. Without a starting-caliber center, many fans and critics thought the season was lost until free agency or another potential trade could be made.
Jaxon Hayes is not the ideal center for the Lakers but he’s holding his own out there alongside Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Against the Pelicans, he feasted off lobs and open looks under the paint with 19 points and 10 rebounds on a perfect 8-8 shooting.
If Hayes can maintain this level of consistency throughout the season, it could be a huge variable in a potential run in the Western Conference. Regardless, he stepped up tonight in the frontcourt to apply some pressure under the rim and convert the passes from Doncic and James into easy buckets.
Dominant Rebounding Game
The Lakers were 26th in the NBA in rebounding (42.5 per game) before tonight’s matchup but they went up against a depleted Pelicans team missing much of its frontcourt. Of course, with Zion Williamson doing the bulk of the scoring, He didn’t have the energy to do much of anything else.
Thanks to the efforts of guys like Jaxson Hayes (10 rebounds), LeBron James (eight rebounds), Luka Doncic (eight rebounds), and Jarred Vanderbilt (eight rebounds), the Lakers easily won the rebounding battle to set the odds even more in their favor.
Controlling the boards gave the Lakers second opportunities to score, and prevented a Pelicans comeback by keeping the score out of reach. This is part of the key to their success without Anthony Davis, and they’ll need it to continue to have any chance of a playoff run.
It remains to be seen if the Lakers can hold their spot at second in the West but they are certainly playing like it right now after their seventh straight win. With Luka Doncic getting comfortable, it seems the best is yet to come for this Lakers group and the vibes couldn’t be better heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Knicks.
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