Lakers (22\u201311) vs. Pelicans (8\u201329) | Game 34 of 82<\/p>\n
Where to Watch and What Time<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc5 Date: Tuesday, Jan. 6<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u23f0 Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. PST\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udccd Location: Smoothie King Center \u2014 New Orleans, LA<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfa TV: Spectrum SportsNet<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfb Radio: ESPN LA 710 \/ 1330 KWKW<\/p>\n
The Lakers are back on the road for the next two games following a five-game homestand that had them finish 3-2. Los Angeles will play back-to-back road games against the Pelicans and the Spurs on Tuesday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Lakers lost to the Rockets and Pistons in the homestand, two teams that have similar traits, along with a pair of Thompson twins. Both teams are fast, athletic and aggressive. L.A.’s kryptonite in defending and matching.<\/p>\n
Houston and Detroit had their way getting in the Lakers’ paint, both eclipsing over 65 points inside. In the past five games, the Lakers allowed the second most points in the paint per game in the NBA, allowing 62 per contest.<\/p>\n
This will be on the scouting report, with the Pelicans’ ability to kill teams in the paint being one of their only bright spots this season, averaging the most points in the paint per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pelicans average 58.1 points in the paint per contest thanks to Zion Williamson, who scores 22.8 ppg\u2014all of which are mostly inside the key.<\/p>\n
The two losses to winning teams in the five-game homestand dropped the Lakers to 7-8 against teams above .500. But their three wins versus losing teams pushed their record to 15-3 against teams under .500.<\/p>\n
Luka Don\u010di\u0107 is coming off a bounce-back shooting performance in the Lakers’ 120-114 win over the Hornets on Sunday after shooting 28% from 3 on nine of 32 in the previous three games. He finished with 36 points on four-for-10 from 3 and 10-of-20 shooting overall.<\/p>\n
Jake LaRavia continued his contribution in the starting unit for Rui Hachimura with both games against Memphis with over 20 points.<\/p>\n
L.A. faces a Pelicans team that sits 8\u201329 at the bottom of the West, riding a seven-game losing streak and coming off a 19-point loss in Miami on Sunday that had them commit 26 turnovers.<\/p>\n
The Pelicans are 6-16 at home this season and have lost four straight at the Smoothie King Center. The Lakers sit 12-5 on the road and look to snap a two-game losing streak on the road in NOLA.<\/p>\n
Notable Opponent Ranks Among the NBA<\/p>\n
The Pelicans have the 26th-rated (111.9) offense and the 27th-rated (119.5) defense in the NBA. Here are some notable (good and meh) rankings of where they sit among the league.<\/p>\n
New Orleans currently sits:<\/p>\n
1st in the NBA in points in the paint per game (58.1 per contest)<\/p>\n
20th in points a game (115.2)<\/p>\n
22nd in FG% (46.1%)<\/p>\n
28th in 3P% (34.1%)<\/p>\n
28th in 3PM a game (10.8)<\/p>\n
Gabe Vincent was upgraded to questionable on Monday’s Lakers injury report for NOLA. We could see the seven-year guard make his return after missing the last five games.<\/p>\n
Austin Reaves (left calf strain): Out<\/p>\n
Gabe Vincent (lower back tightness): Questionable<\/p>\n
Rui Hachimura (right calf soreness): Out<\/p>\n
Adou Thiero (right MCL sprain): Out<\/p>\n
Herbert Jones (ankle): Questionable<\/p>\n
Saddiq Bey (hip): Questionable<\/p>\n
Dejounte Murray (Achilles): Out<\/p>\n
The Lakers will rock their traditional gold unis on the road, while New Orleans will wear their NOLA City Edition uniforms.<\/p>\n
The Lakers will play in New Orleans and then San Antonio and then play three of the next four games at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers (22\u201311) vs. Pelicans (8\u201329) | Game 34 of 82 Where to Watch and What Time \ud83d\udcc5 Date:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,1698,185,150,368,6,478,470,4073,4072,67,675,4536],"class_list":{"0":"post-520483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la-lakers","10":"tag-lebron-james","11":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","12":"tag-luka-doncic","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-new-orleans","15":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","16":"tag-neworleans","17":"tag-neworleanspelicans","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-pelicans","20":"tag-tst-los-angeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115849031000159791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}