On April 15, Beijing time, the final day of the NBA regular season, all 30 teams played, and the regular season rankings were officially determined. There are too many games today, let's pick one of them to write first: Pelicans home vs Lakers. If the Lakers win, they will lock up 8th place in the West. A win for the Pelicans would lock them up in sixth place in the West and escape the play-in zone.
If the Lakers lose, they could fall to 10th place in the West. Some fans want to ask: The 8th and 10th have to play the play-offs, what is the difference? To put it simply: the 7th and 8th in the West have two lives, and if they win the play-offs, they will directly advance to the playoffs, and if they lose, they can play again. The 9th and 10th have only one life, and if they lose in the play-offs, they will be eliminated directly.
Ingram, who has missed 12 games in a row, is officially back today. Pelicans starters: McCollum, Herbert Jones, Ingram, Zion, Valanciunas. Lakers starters: Russell, Reaves, Hachimura, James, thick eyebrows. The Lakers started the game very focused, shooting 5-of-5 from the field as a team and stopping the Pelicans on an 11-4 run.
Varan wasn't maneuverable enough, and the Pelicans quickly replaced him with Nance Jr. The Lakers turned on the all-out mode and showed the state of winning the midseason. James played in the first half of the quarter, dished out eight assists and had zero turnovers, and the Pelicans had four assists and four turnovers in the first half. James has more than 11,000 assists in his career, officially reaching 40,000+11,000+11,000!
The thick eyebrows were full of firepower, and he scored 14 points and 3 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting in the first quarter. Ingram stepped up in response, scoring 9 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter and hitting a three-pointer from the buzzer. At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led by four points at 28-24. In the second quarter, James took the bench lineup, and just after 2 minutes, the Lakers led to double digits, and the Pelicans couldn't shoot any open three-pointers.
The Pelicans did not show the determination to win, and the Lakers benched Prince to force Zion many times. Just six and a half minutes into the second quarter, the Lakers led by 20 points at 53-33. Varan played 3 minutes in the opening game and was directly abandoned, and the Lakers scored inside to blow up the Pelicans! Whether it was thick eyebrows or Hachimura, they easily dunked under the basket many times, and the Pelicans were not as tall as they were.
At halftime, the Lakers led by 17 points, 70-53. Thick eyebrows 18 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, James 13 points, 6 rebounds and 13 assists, Hachimura 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. The Lakers scored 50-12 inside, crushing the Pelicans! Zion was blown up, scoring only 4 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers on 1-of-6 shooting in the half. The Pelicans had nine turnovers as a team and the Lakers had six.
James dished out 13 assists in the first half, setting a career-high half-court assist record, and taught Zion a lesson on both ends of the floor. If the Pelicans lose this game and fall to 7th place in the West, they will still have to play the Lakers in the playoffs. Yibian fought again, Russell hit two three-pointers, and the Lakers led 20+ again!
If the Pelicans lose by 30 points today and play the play-offs against the Lakers in two days, there will definitely be a problem with the mentality of the players. With 5 minutes and 26 seconds left in the third quarter, thick eyebrows got their fourth foul, will this be a turning point?
At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers led by 22 points at 99-77, leaving only one quarter of time left for the Pelicans! Wallan returned to the court in the fourth quarter, he sat off the court for more than two quarters, and the Pelicans finally chased 17 points at 9:57 in the final quarter. Zhan Mei returned to the court and used the block to name Wallan, and the Lakers pulled away again. Suddenly, thick eyebrows are injured and return to the locker room!
I didn't see how the thick eyebrows were injured, he kept holding his waist, his expression was painful! The thick eyebrows are too important to the Lakers, if he can't play in the next game, it's hard to say whether the Lakers can win the Pelicans in the play-offs. At the end of the game, the Lakers beat the Pelicans 124-108. The Lakers are 8th in the West, the Pelicans are 7th in the West, and the two teams have to play a play-in game.
Eastern Conference Playoffs: Philadelphia (7) vs. Heat (8), Bulls (9) vs. Hawks (10)!Western Conference Playoffs: Pelicans (7) vs. Lakers (8), Kings (9) vs. Warriors (10). The Thunder are first in the West, and the Nuggets are second in the West. If the Lakers beat the Pelicans in the playoffs, they will lock up 7th place in the West and beat the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs!
The Western Conference play-offs will start on April 17, and the Eastern Conference play-offs will start on April 18! The Lakers and Pelicans are at 7:30 a.m., and the Warriors and Kings are at 10 a.m.! Finally, let's take a look at the stats and the top 10 rankings in the East and West in the regular season.