In usual circumstances, the Lakers wouldn’t have played a competitive game against the Pelicans on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Because in most seasons, a team like the Pelicans, who entered the matchup with the league’s sixth-worst record, would be tanking with the hopes of falling in the standings to secure the best possible draft lottery odds.
But this season hasn’t been typical, with the Pelicans, who won six of their last nine games entering Tuesday, still looking to be competitive in light of trading away their 2026 first-round pick during a highly-scrutinized transaction that moved them up in the 2025 draft to select rookie big man Derik Queen at No. 13.
So the Lakers had to fight all the way to the end for the 110-101 victory over the Pelicans, who were able to stick around because of the Lakers’ poor ball security.
Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. LeBron James had 21 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.
What it means
The Lakers are on their third three-game winning streak since December.
They moved to 37-24 on the season, getting closer to havin an identical home record (18-12) as road record (19-12).
Turning point
When Austin Reaves, who struggled with his shot for most of Tuesday (15 points on 4-of-15 shooting) made the 3-pointer with 5:04 left to give the Lakers a 96-94 lead.
The Lakers led for the remainder of the game.
MVP: Marcus Smart
His 3-of-9 shooting doesn’t stand out.
But the veteran gaurd made the dagger 3-point to put the Lakers up 105-98 with 1:34 left.
And he made multiple game-changing defensive plays that ignited the Lakers’ offense.
Smart finished with 10 points, seven assists, four steals and three rebounds, and had the best individual plus/minus among the starters.
Stat of the game: 22
That was the number of turnovers the Lakers committed against the Pelicans.
It was the 11th time they had at least 20 giveaways, with the Lakers entering Tuesday 4-6 in games they had at least 20 turnovers.
Notably, it was just the third time the Lakers had at least 20 turnovers in a game Doncic, LeBron and Reaves all played, with the last one being the Feb. 5 win over the 76ers that Doncic left at halftime during.
The Dec. 1 loss to the Suns was the last time the Lakers had 20 turnovers in a game all three star players finished.
Up next
The Lakers will kick off their upcoming back-to-back in Denver when they play the Nuggets on Thursday night at Ball Arena.
They’ll close out the back-to-back on Friday against the Pacers at Crypto.com Arena, which will kick off a five-game homestand.
