
The Lakers had one of their worst games this season – and that’s saying a lot considering how bad the Lakers have been all season – against the New Orleans Pelicans that are the 11 seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers had 23 turnovers in the game with Russell Westbrook and LeBron James having 7 turnovers each.
LeBron once again had a meaningless great performance. He scored 32 points and 6 rebounds in the loss. The only 2 players that scored in double digits were Russell Westbrook – 16 points and Carmelo Anthony – 13 points. Dwight Howard only had 6 points but had 11 rebounds. Out of Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, and Blocks the only stat the Lakers led in was the Blocks.
The Pelicans outrebounded the Lakers 51-38 and also passed the ball better having 29 assists to the Lakers’ 15. They were led by CJ McCollum who had 22 points and 8 assists. They had 5 other players with double-digit scoring as well ( Brandon Ingram – 19 points and 8 assists, Jaxson Hayes – 11 points and 9 rebounds, Jonas Valunciunas – 19 points and 10 rebounds, Herb jones – 11 points and Devonte Graham – 12 points).
The Lakers were booed by their fans at the Crypto.com arena. They were playing with very little energy and were careless with the ball. The courtside reporter for ESPN told Richard Jefferson and Ryan Ruocco that the only person that had any energy on the bench was Russell Westbrook and everyone else had zoned out or just didn’t pay any attention.
The loss hurts the Lakers because they seemed to have started figuring things out but with Anthony Davis out, they need to get a few wins to even be in the Play-in games. The Lakers are currently in 9th place in the Western Conference and are in danger of losing that spot to the Portland Trail Blazers who are only 2.5 games behind them and a resurgent New Orleans Pelicans.