New Orleans led for much of Wednesday’s game in the return of former franchise player Anthony Davis to the Crescent City, but couldn’t hold on in the fourth quarter, losing in a hard-fought Western Conference matchup. After trailing by as many as 16 points, Los Angeles held a 60-46 second-half advantage and continued its series of tight victories on a road trip against West foes.
“We learned that we can compete with anybody in the league, no matter if it is one of the teams in the league with the best record, or anybody,” said Kenrich Williams, who personified some of the Pelicans’ scrappiness by defending against bigger Lakers and going for 11 points and seven rebounds. “We can compete.”
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Davis (41 points) picked off a New Orleans inbound pass and was fouled by Brandon Ingram with 4.2 seconds left and Los Angeles leading by two. Davis stepped to the foul line and sank a pair of free throws to make it 114-110. The Lakers came back after trailing by 10 points at halftime, the same deficit they faced through three quarters.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Jrue Holiday posted a team-high 29 points, helping power the Pelicans to a halftime lead by dropping in 25 points. He was 10/15 from the field in the first half. Holiday finished the night at 12/23, including 4/6 on three-pointers.
“He played well,” Williams said. “He’s our leader, so he gives us something to build off of. When he plays aggressive like that, we just follow in his footsteps, so that was good.”
BY THE NUMBERS
17/40: New Orleans three-point shooting, led by a 5/8 night by JJ Redick. Three other starters and reserve Josh Hart sank two-plus treys each.
17/44: New Orleans two-point shooting. The Lakers blocked six shots and did a commendable job of altering others and making life tough for the Pelicans close to the basket. It’s very rare for an NBA team to shoot better from beyond the arc than inside of it.
20/20: Assists and turnovers for the Pelicans, a ratio Alvin Gentry alluded to in his postgame press conference and something that makes it very difficult for any NBA team to overcome. The Lakers had 26 and 16 in those categories.
#WESTERNCONFERENCEWEDNESDAY
We’re not even one-quarter of the way through the NBA regular season, but there have been surprises aplenty already in the West, including both conference finalists from this spring (Golden State and Portland) currently being well outside the top eight of the standings. Another perennial playoff qualifier, San Antonio, is on pace to see its two-decade-plus postseason streak come to an end. As a result, the bottom portion of the top eight is probably more wide-open than anyone could’ve imagined during the offseason. Wednesday’s poll consisted of a vote among fans on which of the four teams just ahead of New Orleans in the standings will finish with the best record; Minnesota won by a comfortable margin, with over 40 percent of the vote, ahead of (in order) Phoenix, Sacramento and Oklahoma City. The Thunder are the Pelicans’ opponent in their next two games, Friday at OKC and Sunday back in NOLA.
