{"id":518999,"date":"2026-03-04T22:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/518999\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:34:09","slug":"all-five-starters-score-in-double-figures-as-lakers-defeat-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/518999\/","title":{"rendered":"All five starters score in double figures as Lakers defeat Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lakers are looking to stack wins and not in position to judge an opponent by its win-loss record.<\/p>\n

So, when the Lakers encountered a Pelicans team that arrived at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night with a 19-43 record, they knew they couldn\u2019t afford to overlook New Orleans. Especially since the Pelicans had won four of their last five and have a talented core of young players that includes Zion Williamson, Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray.<\/p>\n

It took all five starters scoring in double figures as well as a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter for the Lakers to pull out a 110-101 win<\/a> over a stubborn Pelicans team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we weren\u2019t playing against their record tonight,\u201d said LeBron James, who had 21 points on eight-for-12 shooting with seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocks. But he also had five turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve been whole in quite a while,\u201d James continued. \u201cAnd we know when they\u2019ve been whole what kind of team they\u2019ve been. So, we came in with that mindset, understanding what kind of team we were playing and they won their last four out of five before tonight, or something like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we didn\u2019t come in with the notion that we were playing against their record. We came in with the notion that we were playing a very athletic team that\u2019s been playing exceptional basketball of late.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers (37-24<\/a>) have been a better team as of late as well, winning their third straight game after losing three straight.<\/p>\n

After two consecutive blowouts, they won this one with just enough offense and some timely defense.<\/p>\n

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He shot 10 for 22 from the field but only three for 10 from three-point range and had seven turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe responded in a good way,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cSometimes you got to win playing bad. That\u2019s what good teams do. I think that\u2019s what it is today. Obviously it wasn\u2019t our best game, but we managed to get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves had 15 points on four-for-15 shooting, two for seven on three-pointers, with eight rebounds and five turnovers.<\/p>\n

Reaves was briefly sidelined late in the fourth quarter after stripping the ball from Williamson, holding his right hand and shaking his arm. But after a quick timeout, Reeves returned to the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hit my funny bone,\u201d Reaves said. \u201cWhole hand went numb, called a timeout, kind of went away and was able to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deandre Ayton had 13 points and eight rebounds. There also was the defense and energy Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes provided the Lakers. Smart had 10 points, four steals and three blocks. He also was big on offense, drilling a three-pointer with 1:34 left for a 105-98 lead. Hayes had eight points, six rebounds and two blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJaxson was guarding Zion, which is not easy,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cSo, I think he had some big, big plays for us. And obviously Smart has been the key to our wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers had 20 turnovers through three quarters, which was a big reason they trailed 78-76 entering the fourth.<\/p>\n

They had just one in the fourth quarter and that came on a late 24-second violation when they were running out the clock.<\/p>\n

The Lakers didn\u2019t help themselves by losing their composure at times.<\/p>\n

Doncic was given a technical foul in the second quarter. Luke Kennard received a technical in the third quarter, and Ayton got one in the fourth after being called for a foul while blocking a shot by Williamson.<\/p>\n

\"Austin <\/p>\n

Austin Reaves celebrates after making a three-pointer in the second half.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Lakers had 12 blocks, including seven in the decisive fourth quarter. They held the Pelicans to 35% shooting in the quarter to come back from eight down with 7:20 left.<\/p>\n

Reaves hit a pair of threes during a 14-0 run that gave them the lead for good, the Lakers holding the Pelicans scoreless for more than four minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made some strides defensively,\u201d James said. \u201cI think we didn\u2019t play much at all zone tonight. We started the game with it, we kind of went away from it. So, I thought our man-to-man defense was pretty good. I thought Jaxson and Marcus were great on that end and then everyone else kind of trickled in as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers are looking to stack wins and not in position to judge an opponent by its win-loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,12839,259187,2873,7896,11473,9034,11957,321,10227,85,259188,259186,9359,6618,259185],"class_list":["post-518999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-double-figure","tag-lakers","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-marcus-smart","tag-pelicans","tag-point","tag-rebound","tag-sports","tag-starter","tag-technical-foul","tag-third-quarter","tag-time","tag-turnover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}