In the first round of the play-offs, the Lakers defeated the Pelicans 110-106 away.
Let's talk about the Lakers first, in the last game of the regular season, the Lakers defeated the Pelicans 124-108, and they won 3-1 all season, including a 133-89 victory in the semifinals of the midseason by 44 points, so to be honest, the Lakers won by no surprise.
However, this game was not easy for the Lakers to win, from falling behind by 10 points, to leading by up to 15 points in the second quarter, to being tied several times in the fourth quarter, and finally winning the game in the last half minute.
The two core Zhan Mei scored 43 points, but the offensive state was not online, James shot 6 of 20, thick eyebrows shot 6 of 16, fortunately, the defense of both is very good, James two consecutive main defense may be the most impactful forward in the active service, thick eyebrows grabbed the offensive rebound at a critical moment, 6 front boards and 3 blocks in the whole game, and the last four free throws were not lost.
Waiting for the Lakers will be the test of the defending champion Nuggets, who swept the Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference last season and are also 3-0 in the regular season this season.
Focusing on the Pelicans, Zion did his best.
In the whole game, Zion played a total of 36 minutes, shot 17 of 27, 6 of 9 free throws, and scored 40 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
Unfortunately, 3 minutes before the end, Zion was suddenly injured after eating thick eyebrows and never returned.
From the slow motion, I really didn't see where Zion was injured, and even Pelicans coach Willie Green said immediately after the game that it was not clear whether Zion had a foot injury or a knee injury.
All that could be seen was that Zion was very frustrated on the bench, threw his towel in anger, and walked back to the locker room with his head down.
The latest news is that Zion has suffered a hamstring injury in his left leg, although it is unclear how severe it is.
It's hard to say what would have been the outcome if Zion hadn't been injured, but before Zion went off the court, the Pelicans were gaining momentum, leveling the double-digit margin in the fourth quarter, and the point is, the Lakers really couldn't defend Zion's frame.
So, Zion did his best, but the Pelicans' other two stars, Ingram and McCollum, scored only 20 points on 27 shooting together, which was really disappointing.
First Ingram, Ingram, who has just returned from injury, seems to be still finding form, or has a time limit on play, played 25 minutes, shot 4 of 12, only got 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, and a plus/minus of -16.
Ingram's offensive desire in this game is still not high, he doesn't play when he is misplaced, he doesn't play when he is behind, and at the end of the fourth quarter, as the star of the house, he was actually pressed to the bench, which can be said to be very rare in such a key play-off game.
Willie Green explained DNP Ingram after the game: "I just liked the combination of the lineup on the court at the time, and he was recovering from injury and still finding his rhythm, so I didn't want to force some problems. ”
If Ingram's poor form can still find an injury as a reason, then McCollum's aberration really can't find the slightest excuse, he played 40 minutes, shooting 4-of-15 from the field, 1-of-9 from three-point range, only 9 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, plus/minus -17, the lowest on the team.
McCollum's performance was simple in six words: no offense, no defense, 1 of 9 in the first half, adding up to only 5 points, and if it weren't for Zion's injury in the fourth quarter, he would have to sit on the bench with Ingram.
It is worth mentioning that before the play-offs, McCollum's performance was actually very good, in the last 7 games of the season, all scored 25+, averaged 30.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, shooting 49.3% from the field, 52.5% from three-point range, and 65.6% from the field, which is completely superstar.
However, in such a win-win play-off game, no one will care how you played before, just like the eliminated Warriors next door, before Thompson didn't score a point, his performance at the end of the season was actually not bad, but unfortunately, in the end, only 0 points in the play-offs were remembered.
The good thing is that the Pelicans still have a "second life", but there are a lot of questions: can Zion return, how is Ingram recovering from injury, and can McCollum be tough in the crucial game?
One statistic is that the Pelicans' net efficiency this season is +4.6, ranking sixth in the league and fourth in the West, which can also show that they really have the possibility of competing for the championship.
As a result, at the end of the season, Ingram was injured first, Zion was injured again, everything seems to be a microcosm of the past few years, I hope that in the second game of the play-offs in a few days, Zion can see Zion return healthy, and Ingram and McCollum can also find their form, otherwise - Zion and Yingge have been in combination for a few years, and if they can't make the playoffs, the Pelicans may have big moves in the summer.