On January 1, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Lakers challenged the Pelicans back-to-back away. In this game, the Pelicans entered the state early, and then they have been suppressing the Lakers, establishing a lead of up to 19 points, Lao Zhan is also struggling to catch up, and the Pelicans always have someone to stand up and score points in the last quarter, and the Lakers are also hopeless to catch up. In the end, the Lakers lost to the Pelicans 109-129 and suffered two consecutive defeats.
In the first quarter of the game, the Pelicans came up and took the lead in getting into the state, McCollum hit a three-point shot, Ingram also hit an outside shot, and Zion dunked under the basket to take an 11-4 lead. Davis scored consecutive points, Prince played 2+1, and as Prince hit a three-point shot and James counterattacked, the Lakers overtook the score 22-21. But then McCollum suddenly exploded, hitting four three-pointers in a row to hit a 12-1 offensive run to stretch the margin to double digits. After that, the Pelicans took the initiative on the court, and the second team came up to score consecutive points, Wood hit a three-point shot to stop the bleeding, and Nance Jr. responded, and the Lakers fell behind 33-42 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter of the game, the Lakers came up with three points and missed consecutive shots, missing the opportunity to chase points, and the Pelicans stabilized the situation and took the initiative. The Lakers only scored 3 points after playing 5 minutes, and Lao Zhan began to exert his power, breaking through to 2+1, and then hitting 2 consecutive three-pointers to chase the score to 45-54. But Jones responded, also hitting 2 three-pointers in a row, and the Lakers were in trouble again, Varland scored 2+1, Jones scored three points again, and the difference has come to 19 points. Prince hit a three-point shot to stop the bleeding, James made it 2+1, McCollum broke through, and Nance Jr. counterattacked, and the Pelicans led the Lakers 74-57 at halftime.
Yibian fought again, Reaves hit a three-point shot, the Lakers began to fight back, Jones counterattacked to stabilize the situation, James scored three points, Reaves counterattacked, and Zion scored consecutive points to help the team stabilize the situation. James was in hot form, broke through to continue to score points, and then countered with a dunk, Christie hit a three-point shot, Daniels responded, and Alvarado also scored a three-pointer, bringing the score to 100-85. The Lakers just scored, Ingram also scored a three-pointer, and the Lakers trailed 89-104 after the third quarter.
In the final quarter of the game, Zhan Mei returned to the court, Davis scored free throws, Alvarado scored three points, Lao Zhan broke through and scored, and thick eyebrows scored inside, chasing the score to 99-110. Ingram scored five points in a row to stabilize the situation, and then the Lakers were unable to catch up. In the end, the Lakers lost 109-129 to the Pelicans, and the losing Lakers also missed the opportunity to return to the top eight.
Lao Zhan played well in this game, and he didn't see that he was sick at all, played 36 minutes, and got 34 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists on 12-of-24 shooting, but unfortunately failed to help the team win the game. In the game, Lao Zhan still had the frustration of angrily scolding Wood, when he interfered with McCollum's breakthrough, but Wood lost the rebound without getting stuck, allowing Nance Jr. to easily make up the basket to score points, and Lao Zhan angrily expressed his dissatisfaction. Davis also had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, and Reaves had 20 points and 9 assists.
The Pelicans were on fire this time, with six players in double figures and hitting 17 three-pointers, with Ingram scoring 26 points, Zion 26 and McCollum 22.