NEW ORLEANS — LeBron James and Luka Doncic left the fans inside the Smoothie King Center in awe at their performances on Monday night.
James had a near triple-double of 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Doncic had 30 points and 10 assists, the two of them leading the Lakers to a 111-103 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III was a handful for the Lakers (23-11), scoring 42 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop New Orleans from losing its eight straight game.
The Lakers opened the fourth quarter with an intensity on defense and a strong offensive output, outscoring New Orleans 18-4 to take a . a 97-90 lead.
Still, it took the Lakers playing hard until the end to close out the victory.
When Doncic lost control of the basketball late, it looked like it would be a 24-second clock violation.
Instead, he got the ball back and shot a floating three-pointer with James standing nearby. Doncic then hoisted a three-pointer for a 105-96 Lakers lead with one minute and 59 seconds left.
The Pelicans called a timeout, leading to James putting his head in the chest of a smiling Doncic.
The Lakers got an active and engaged Deandre Ayton from the start, as he threw a lob pass to James for the first basket of the game.
Then Ayton ran the court and took a return lob pass from James for a dunk.
By the end of the first quarter, Ayton had four points, four rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot. He finished the game with 18 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
The Lakers trailed 54-51 at the half.
They couldn’t make enough three-pointers, going three for 17 in the first 24 minutes.
They couldn’t keep up with the Pelicans’ bench, their reserves outscored 19-9 in the first 24 minutes.
Doncic had 16 points and six assists in the first half and James had 15 points and six rebounds.
But starting forward Jake LaRavia didn’t score in his 18 minutes of play in the first half.
The Lakers then went down by nine points in the third quarter, meaning they had to play catch-up the rest of the way.
The Lakers play a back-to-back game Wednesday night in San Antonio, leading to Redick being asked if the 41-year-old James would play against the Spurs.
“We have no plan for any of our players,” Redick said. “We’re gonna see what happens tonight.”
Etc.
Lakers guard Gabe Vincent is on the two-game trip, but he was downgraded to out for the game against the Pelicans with a lumbar back strain. Vincent has missed the last nine games, but there is hope he’ll be available Wednesday against San Antonio. “We just downgraded Gabe,” Redick said. “He has not had a setback, but we’re hoping he gets to play tomorrow. But again, it’s all about how he feels tomorrow.”
