After a disastrous loss to the Los Angeles Lakers to close their regular season, the New Orleans Pelicans sought redemption in the opening game of the NBA Play-In Tournament on Tuesday. Instead of redemption, the Pels got a high-intensity affair that ended in a 110-106 loss after star Zion Williamson’s 40-point game and early exit.
With the win, the Lakers earned a meeting with the defending champion Nuggets in Denver on Saturday in the first round of the playoffs. The Pelicans will host the winner of Tuesday’s Play-In game between Sacramento and Golden State in an elimination matchup Friday.
LeBron James scored a team-high 23 points, to go along with nine assists and nine rebounds. Lakers D’Angelo Russell, who scored 21 points and added seven assists, was also instrumental in the victory, shooting 5 of 11 from 3. Former Pelican Anthony Davis put up 20 points and notched a game-high 15 rebounds.
Williamson, whose 40 points paced both teams, also finished with 11 rebounds and five assists.
Zion goes coast-to-coast for 20 first half points! 😤 pic.twitter.com/Sze97uAAou
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 17, 2024
The Pelicans shook off their Sunday sluggishness with a back-and-forth first half. They carried a 10-point lead into the early seconds of the second quarter, but Los Angeles found its momentum before the break and took a 10-point lead into halftime. From there, the Lakers kept building in the third as they continued to limit CJ McCollum (nine points) and Brandon Ingram (11 points), who looked off after playing in his second game back after missing the previous 12 games with a knee injury.
The Pelicans reduced their 18-point deficit to seven points entering the fourth quarter, and found a spark from there, pushing to within two points after a 9-0 run that included a Williamson block on James that led to a Jose Alvarado 3. Alvarado then assisted Williamson on a monster dunk to tie the game 93-93, but the Lakers ultimately put the game away after Williamson exited in the final minutes with an apparent injury.
This will be updated.
(Photo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)
