After swallowing a defeat at home, the Pelicans, ranked tenth in the West, sat back-to-back at home and ushered in the challenge of the ninth-ranked Lakers in the West.
On the Pelicans side, Ingram made a comeback, and the Pelicans, whose main players poured out of the nest, are also ready to defend the home court and win the key ranking card battle.
On the other hand, on the Lakers side, James ushered in a return, and whether the Lakers, who ushered in the "main heart", can withstand the pressure has undoubtedly become a major attraction of this game!
However, after four quarters of competition, with a strong start of 13-2, the Lakers, who were mainly anti-guests, although in the first half, once overpowered the Pelicans, and achieved a huge advantage of as many as 23 points.
But after returning from the second half, Ingram + Trey Murphy felt hot in the third quarter and led the Pelicans to play several waves of counterattacks, successfully narrowing the point difference to single digits and preserving the suspense of the game.
Coupled with the final finale, Varan dominated the inside line, CJ McCollum caused James to interfere with the ball, the Pelicans took advantage of the momentum, and gained an 8-point lead, while the Lakers repeatedly failed to hit and had to lose.
In the end, the Pelicans also reversed the Lakers 116-108 at home, winning the key card battle at the same time, but also completed a big reversal of 23 points behind!
This game back-to-back home game, although the Pelicans once fell into a passive situation of 23 points behind the score, but fortunately the team did not mess up, but played a team performance of 5 people scoring in double figures, completing the reversal.
In the case of CJ McCollum + Herbert Jones and other main players, each performing their duties, the two main players Ingram + Varan, and the play of the bench surprise Trey Murphy, is particularly critical!
Ingram played 24 minutes in the game, scoring a team-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting, plus seven rebounds and five assists.
It is not difficult to see that after a long rest and adjustment, Ingram's physical condition and competitive state still maintain a fairly high standard!
In addition, as the team's internal gate, the play of Varan in this game also played a crucial role.
In this campaign, Varan attacked and defended well, shooting 7 of 13 from the field, handing over a double-double performance of 19 points + 12 rebounds + 3 assists + 1 steal + 1 block, which can almost be said to have single-handedly hoisted the Lakers' inner line!
Of course, the Pelicans were able to reverse the Lakers in this game, and the performance of Trey Murphy on the bench was also indispensable.
Trey Murphy was appointed as a substitute for 25 minutes, shooting four three-pointers on 7-of-12 shooting, contributing 21 points and four rebounds without personal error.
Among them, in the third quarter, he scored 16 points alone in the key performance, which not only helped the Pelicans to play a counterattack, but also made a great contribution to the team's reversal!
More importantly, after defeating the Lakers in this game, the Pelicans also officially returned to the ninth position in the West with a regular season record of 32 wins and 43 losses!
On the other hand, on the Lakers side, the team collapsed in the second half of this game, and finally was reversed, and the performance of the game of swallowing 2 consecutive defeats obviously needs to be examined.
But rationally speaking, for the Lakers, this battle, the team is not completely without highlights and gains!
After all, in the case of Westbrook + Munch playing well, the performance of LeBron James, the core of the team, is indeed remarkable.
In this game, James was in full swing, starting 40 minutes, shooting 7 three-pointers on 14-of-27 shooting, and exploded a game-high 39 points, plus 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block.
After scoring 39 points in this campaign, James's career total score also officially broke through the 37,000-point mark, becoming the youngest Mr. 37,000 in the history of the league, ushering in a major milestone moment!
Only for the Lakers, although James is in hot form, he lost the key card position battle in this battle, and after suffering 2 consecutive defeats, the Lakers, whose ranking fell to the tenth place in the West, undoubtedly suffered a big blow!