After losing on the road to the Miami Heat this past weekend, the New Orleans Pelicans looked to snap their losing streak at home on Tuesday when they faced the Los Angeles Lakers. A fourth-quarter collapse by the Pels led to a 111-103 loss, dropping their record to 8-30 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Jeremiah Fears was an early contributor for New Orleans, scoring seven of the team’s first 12 points and doing so from all three levels. Yves Missi and Trey Murphy III helped tie the game at 12 five minutes in. LeBron James and Marcus Smart hit a three-pointer in that time frame to account for half of the Lakers’ points.
Luka Doncic took over in the second half of the first quarter for Los Angeles, scoring nine of the team’s final 13 points in the frame. Doncic made his way into the paint twice and hit midrange pull-up jumpers. Despite the early takeover, New Orleans was ferocious in the paint with not one but three dunks, one coming from Zion Williamson and the others were by Karlo Matkovic. Those dunks kept it a four-point game after 12 minutes of action.
It was all Pelicans rookies early on in the second quarter as Derik Queen and Micah Peavy combined for seven points in two-and-a-half minutes, with the only Laker bucket being a 25-foot running jumper by Dalton Knecht. Murphy also started to heat up in the middle part of the quarter by scoring in the paint on back-to-back possessions, including an and-one to cut it to within three.
Murphy III continued to go on a hot streak and get help from Zion Williamson as the Pels went into the half with the lead. The duo combined to score New Orleans’ next 18 points before Missi had a tip-in and Jose Alvarado put up a floater with three seconds to go. In the final four minutes of the first half, Los Angeles had just two baskets, with New Orleans going into the locker room with the 54-51 advantage.
The Pelicans’ offense didn’t slow down, consistently scoring throughout the third quarter, but couldn’t build a lead. Most Pels baskets were matched by the Lakers on the following possession. If Queen found Murphy III for a layup, then Doncic answered with a three-pointer. When Williamson or Queen would score in the paint, then James would hit Deandre Ayton for an open layup, or Smart would score on consecutive possessions.
A Murphy three and alley-oop dunk from Queen pushed the Pelicans’ lead to six and forced Lakers head coach JJ Redick to burn a timeout and regroup. That didn’t stop New Orleans from eventually taking its largest lead late in the quarter, going up by nine with 1:48 left in the third as Murphy knocked down another three and Matkovic made both of his free throws. James put up a quick five points before an and-one layup by Murphy made it an 86-79 game heading into the fourth.
The final 12 minutes were all Lakers. The Pels didn’t score their first points of the fourth until the 8:46 mark when Queen hit an 18-footer. Before that, Los Angeles scored 10 straight, including a couple of shots from downtown by James.
The Pels went on another scoreless stretch in the middle part of the quarter, finding themselves down by seven with four and a half minutes to go. Murphy hit three free throws, and Alvarado hit a three to try and keep New Orleans in it late, but it wasn’t enough as James and Doncic were too much. Murphy’s career-high 42-point performance wasn’t enough as the Pelicans lost 111-103 to drop their record to 8-30 on the season.
BIG NUMBER: 8
After winning five straight games through the middle of December, the New Orleans Pelicans have since lost eight in a row. The opponents they lost to have been the Cavaliers, Suns (twice), Knicks, Bulls, Trailblazers, Heat, and now the Lakers.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: LeBron James
James tied for a team-high 30 points on Tuesday, shooting above 50% from the floor (10/19), going a perfect 7/7 from the free throw line, and adding eight rebounds and assists. Those stats plus a pair of steals and a block were enough contribution for Los Angeles to take down New Orleans 111-103.
UP NEXT: The New Orleans Pelicans will return on Wednesday, January 7th, to play a road matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. Tip-off from the State Farm Arena is set for 6:30 PM.