Lakers take down Pelicans to secure seventh seed in playoffs
Playoff bound! The Los Angeles Lakers are headed to the playoffs after securing the seventh seed for the second straight season in the Play-In Tournament.
In a thrilling must-see rematch, the Lakers will now face the reigning NBA champions and the team that swept them in last season’s Western Conference Finals, the Denver Nuggets, in the opening round of the playoffs.
“They’ve [Nuggets] had a ton of success against our ball club, but there’s always a new day… We like where we are. We like where the spirit of our group is,” said Lakers head coach Darvin Ham on Denver. “Everybody is excited about this challenge… We like our chances.”
In their second matchup in three days, the energy to start between the two ballclubs was higher than Sunday’s one-sided Lakers win. New Orleans came out with solid momentum, riding their home crowd, closing out the first quarter with an eight-point lead (34–26).
The Lakers turned it around in the second quarter, thanks to a 34–16 run and 12 points from LeBron James to give L.A. a 10-point lead going into halftime (60–50).
James was active in the playoff-like atmosphere in season 21, drawing multiple charges on defense and scoring and distributing on offense. He finished with a near triple-double of 23 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.
It was all Lakers to start the third quarter, leading by as many as 18 points. A strong momentum shift from the Pelicans changed the outlook of what looked like another Lakers rout. Led by two-time all-star Zion Williamson, New Orleans closed the third on a 21–10 run.
Fast-forward to three minutes left in the game and a strong push by the Pels, with a loud Smoothie King Center crowd behind them, New Orleans climbed back to tie it at 95-all on the back of 23-year-old Williamson, who tied it on a tough layup over Lakers bigman Anthony Davis.
Williamson was hurt on the game-tying play and could not finish the rest of the game, heading straight to the locker room with a left leg injury. With New Orleans’ top player out with three minutes left, this gave the Lakers a higher edge, as Williamson finished with a game-high 40 points.
Clutch plays pushed the Lakers over the Pelicans down the final stretch.
D’Angelo Russell came up huge for L.A. with a huge corner three in front of the Pelicans bench, jarring and smiling at them as it gave the Lakers a four-point lead with 50.3 seconds left. Russell finished with 21 points on seven-for-14 shooting from the floor (five made threes) with six assists.
“Big time shot by DLo [Russell] in that strong corner by their bench,” LeBron said. “It was a good all-around team win.”
With 20 seconds left, Davis came up huge for L.A., securing his biggest rebound of the season off a LeBron airball as the shot clock was closing, going up and drawing a foul. Davis and Austin Reaves would close the game with clutch free throws to punch their tickets to the playoffs with a final score of 110–106.
Davis battled through the game despite still dealing with spasms that forced him to miss the last five minutes of Sunday’s game. With the Lakers having four days off until their playoff matchup, Davis said the extra rest will help him get back to 100%.
Davis tallied 14 of his final 20 points (15 rebounds) in the second half, overcoming a mere six points at halftime despite the spasms affecting his performance.
Lakers’ Game 1 of the playoffs against the Nuggets will be on the road in Denver at Ball Arena on Saturday, April 20, at 5:30 PST.
