Play-in is open NBA. In search of the last places in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers traveled to Louisiana to face the New Orleans Pelicans this Tuesday (16), and came out with the victory by 110 to 106, at the Smoothie King Center.
With the result, the LA franchise guarantees 7th place in the Western Conference, where it will face nothing less than the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the next phase. Despite the setback, the New Orleans team will still have another chance to guarantee its classification.
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Needing to recover after losing at home to the Lakers in the last match, the Pelicans put their maximum strength on the court, with Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, Herbert Jones, CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson, who was not intimidated in his first post game. -career season.
Despite the momentum of the home team, the LA team balanced the actions led by LeBron, Rui Hachimura, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell. In addition, Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince helped the visitors take a 60-50 lead into halftime.
LeBron James in action against the Pelicans in the NBA play-in match Getty Images
With ten points ahead, the Los Angeles team returned for the second half to keep their good recent record away from their domains. Without losing since March 13th away from home, Darvin Ham’s team still had a scare against the Pelicans, who tied the match with three minutes remaining.
Despite his brilliant performance, with 40 points, Zion suffered an injury in the final stretch, resulting in an absence for the hosts, who did not hold back the response from LeBron and company’s team.
With the triumph, the Lakers achieve their ninth consecutive victory away from the Crypto.com Arena. The franchise’s next mission will be the Nuggets, current league champions. Before that, the Pelicans face the winner of the duel between Sacramento Kings e Golden State Warriors for the last spot in the West playoffs.
Statistics:
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Zion Williamson: 40 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists;
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Trey Murphy III: 12 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists;
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LeBron James: 23 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists;
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Anthony Davis: 20 points and 15 rebounds;