In the first half, it looked like the Los Angeles Lakers were headed to an easy win. They jumped out to a 12-0 lead and were up by as much as 23 at one point, as they were red-hot from 3-point range.
But the New Orleans Pelicans came out strong in the third quarter and pecked away at L.A.’s lead. The Lakers were only up by four at the end of the period, and with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans took their first lead of the game.
L.A. just couldn’t recapture the focus, energy or execution it had in the first half, and it ended up falling 116-108.
This was a disappointing and inexcusable loss for the Lakers. It guarantees they will lose their season series with the Pelicans, which means L.A. will need to finish ahead of them in order to claim the ninth seed in the Western Conference and host the first game of the play-in tournament.