On April 17, the NBA play-offs were played, and the Lakers played the Pelicans away. At the end of the regular season, the Lakers rose to 8th place in the West, while the Pelicans missed the play-in tournament by losing to the Lakers in the last game, resulting in a loss to 6th in the West. This time the next day, whether the Pelicans can save face has attracted much attention. According to the play-off rules, the winner of this tournament will advance directly to the main draw and will be seeded No. 7. The loser of this battle will not be out all at once, but will have to fight with the winner between the 9th VS 10th in the West in the West, and there is still hope of promotion. Considering that there is a team like the Warriors in the other group of play-offs, I believe that no one wants to fall into the second round of the play-offs and avoid long nights.
In the first quarter, the Pelicans made a strong effort at the end of the quarter, gradually overtaking the score, and established an 8-point advantage, with a score of 34-26. In the second quarter, Nance saved the ball, then passed to Zion and scored on a mid-range shot. Vincent catches the ball and hits a three-pointer, James catches the ball quickly, and dunks the ball to score. Prince steals, James assists Hayes for a dunk. Daniels missed a three-pointer and Russell scored on a mid-range shot. Murphy missed a three-pointer, Russell got the rebound, and Prince hit a three-pointer. McCollum scored on a drifting mid-range shot, and Vincent caught the ball and hit a three-pointer to continue. Hachimura and Prince made continuous contributions from the outside, and the Lakers opened up the gap with a score of 60-50.
In the third quarter of the second half, the Pelicans began to chase points, and the game was very intense!
The final quarter entered the final climax battle, and the two teams tied in the final moments, James and Murphy scored one after another, Davis continued to score, and Nance made 1 of 2 free throws. Russell's open three-point shot was crucial. The Pelicans trailed by 4 points with 50 seconds left and rushed to a timeout. McCollum hit a 2-pointer. James didn't stick to the three, but the thick eyebrows made a key basket to make a foul and hit 2 free throws. In the end, the Lakers advanced to the top 8 and locked the No. 7 seed spot to face the Nuggets in the first round. James had 23 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, and Davis had 20 points and 15 boards. Russell had 21 points and six assists.