Playing pelicans today, the victory and defeat is very important for the Lakers, because the Lakers are now ranked eleventh in the West and the Pelicans are ranked ninth in the West. If the Lakers win, there is a chance to return to tenth in the West, and if the Lakers lose, then they will continue to stay in Eleventh place in the West.
For the Lakers, the good news before the game is that Davis will return, and James, who was absent from the last game due to injury, will also play, plus Westbrook, and the Lakers' big three will reunite.
The Lakers were defeated
In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers and pelicans' several stars are in very good shape, the Lakers side of the thick eyebrows, James, Westbrook took turns to score, pelicans side Ingram, McCollum did not hesitate to let go. At the end of the first quarter, the Pelicans led the Lakers by five points at 30-25.
In the second quarter of the game, the Lakers' sense of urgency came up, they began to chase points, under the leadership of James, the Lakers tried to narrow the score until they were tied. At halftime, the Lakers drew 50-50 with the Pelicans.
In the third quarter of the game, the thick eyebrow state that had not performed well in the first two quarters had rebounded, and James also began to exert strength, but he was also taken care of and maliciously fouled by the other side. None of them could stop James' determination to win, though, and he scored 21 points in the quarter to help the Lakers take an 87-86 lead over the Pelicans.
In the last quarter of the game, the Pelicans played a wave of 13-4, widening the point difference to 4 points, although the Lakers chased hard, but the last moment was still three points, and finally James threw a three-pointer, but unfortunately did not hit, the Lakers 3 points unfortunately defeated the Pelicans.
James retains the top scorer
Throughout the game, James had 38 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, increasing his average of points per game to 30.3, preserving the position of the leading scorer and 0.2 points ahead of The Alphabet Brother. Then James wants to score the king is very simple, he only needs to look at the main competitors Alphabet Brother and Embiid's scoring situation in each game to measure how many points he should score next. It can be said that James has firmly taken the initiative of the scoring king in his own hands.
Lakers playoff spots are not guaranteed
Although James has a high probability of retaining his scoring title, after the Lakers suffered this loss, the playoff spot has been very unsecured. The Lakers have 5 games to play, and the Nuggets, Suns, and Warriors are the strong opponents they will face in a row. The Nuggets are currently sixth in the West, just two wins ahead of the seventh-place Timberwolves in the West, and they definitely need to continue to consolidate their rankings, so they won't show mercy to the Lakers. Although the Suns are already the first in the league, they also want to continue to refresh their team history victory record, the same will not release water to the Lakers, the Warriors do not have Curry, the combat effectiveness is greatly reduced, the Lakers can take the opportunity to fight the next victory.
In addition to their own victory, the Lakers also have to look at the record of the Pelicans and Spurs, after today's loss to the Pelicans, the Lakers even if the final win rate is the same as the Pelicans, they can only rank behind the Pelicans, because they have been swept by the Pelicans this season. Coupled with the fact that the Pelicans' opponents may release water to the Pelicans, the Pelicans' play-off spot can be said to be a foregone conclusion.
Then the Lakers can only compete with the Spurs for the last play-off place, but the Spurs' next schedule is relatively easy compared to the Lakers.