The Los Angeles Lakers started a quick two-game road trip on Tuesday with a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans after winning three of their last four games and starting to show a bit of progress after going 5-7 in December.
But for much of this game, it looked like some of their old problems were being repeated. They led by as many as seven points early in the second quarter, but they fell behind 54-51 at halftime and 86-79 at the end of the third quarter after being down by as many as nine points. They seemingly couldn’t hit a 3-pointer to save their lives, and New Orleans was seemingly scoring at will in the paint.
But Los Angeles locked things down in the fourth quarter, holding the Pelicans to 17 points while scoring 32 themselves. In the last half of the period, it pulled away and notched a 111-103 win.
For the game, L.A. shot 50.6% from the field, while the Pelicans were at 44% overall and 25% from 3-point range. L.A. enjoyed a 24-9 advantage in fast-break points, which is a sign that its defense, defensive rebounding and overall effort and energy are improving.
Marcus Smart: B-plus/A-minus
Smart produced much better results offensively than he had in most of his recent games. He made half of his 10 shot attempts and seven of his 3-point attempts to score 13 points, and he also had six rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block in 37 minutes.
Jake LaRavia: D
After two big scoring games over the weekend, LaRavia went back to being very quiet offensively on Tuesday. He went scoreless and attempted only one shot in the first half, and he ended up going 2-of-4 overall and scoring five points in 35 minutes. He did, however, also chip in five rebounds and two steals.
Deandre Ayton: A
Unlike in some recent games, the Lakers fed the basketball to Ayton pretty often on Tuesday, and he made plenty of good things happen when given those opportunities. He made nine of his 16 shot attempts and scored 18 points, and he also grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked two shots and added three assists and one steal.
Ayton also showed some nice hustle by coming up with a couple of loose balls down the stretch in the fourth quarter when the Lakers started to pull away.
Luka Doncic: A-minus
Doncic had 16 first-half points, but he missed all six of his 3-point attempts in the first half. He went 3-of-4 from downtown in the second half and finished with 30 points on 11-of-22 overall shooting. He also contributed 10 assists, but he had only two rebounds, shot 5-of-9 from the free throw line and committed five turnovers. It was the fifth time in the last six games that Doncic has had at least five turnovers.
LeBron James: A
James seems to be going from getting his sea legs back to getting into prime mid-season form lately. He had 15 first-half points, and in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, he hit two 3-pointers and notched an assist to give the Lakers the lead after they started the period down by seven points.
In all, he scored 30 points, with 10 of them coming in the final period, and he shot 10-of-19 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. With eight rebounds and eight assists, he flirted with a triple-double, something he has almost never done so far this season.
Jarred Vanderbilt: A
Vanderbilt made a noticeable contribution in 29 minutes of playing time. He snatched eight rebounds, scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting and added four assists and two steals. Overall, he has played very well and been fairly consistent ever since returning to coach JJ Redick’s rotation a few weeks ago.
Jaxson Hayes: C/C-plus
Playing against his former team, Hayes had two points, three rebounds, one steal and one block in 16 minutes.
Dalton Knecht: B-minus
Knecht went 2-of-5 overall and 2-of-4 from 3-point range to score six points in 11 minutes. His second trey came with 8:28 left in the fourth quarter and gave the Lakers a 91-88 lead, a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
Nick Smith Jr.: D
In 10 minutes, Smith missed all three of his shot attempts and ended up with no points, one rebound and one assist.