Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson pace Pelicans in 128-111 win against Lakers
Brandon Ingram looked invigorated by the sight of some old teammates on the Lakers’ bench, while Zion Williamson resembled the reliable 20-point machine he’s become in his second pro season.
That spelled trouble for a Los Angles crew that has been struggling without injured stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Ingram scored a season-high 36 focuses, Williamson had 27 points and nine rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Lakers 128-111 on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old Williamson became the primary NBA player more youthful than 21 to score at any rate 20 focuses in 21 straight games, and he did as such with his usual crowd-pleasing array of alley-oop dunks and quick, incredible drives to the loop.
“We see it every night. You almost just get used to it,” Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I didn’t even think tonight was like one of his better nights. … He’s so good now, the standard’s so high on the offensive end of the floor that you start to take it for granted.”
Ingram helped keep the Pelicans serenely in front with 17 focuses in the second from last quarter, displaying his mid-range collection of pull-ups, blurs and turnaround jumpers — regularly against previous Lakers partner Kyle Kuzma.
“Going against those guys again is always fun because we kind of got drafted around the same time and we were all coming up trying to battle against each other, just trying to be better than each other,” said Ingram, who has scored 30 points 10 times this season, including in his past two games.
“Of course, I’m a competitor. So, I wanted to go back to some of those old days of just us going at it in practice,” Ingram continued. “I just tried to get the best of him.”
Pelicans guard Josh Hart — like Ingram an ex-Laker who was important for the trade that sent Davis to Los Angeles — snatched 15 bounce back to go with five steals.
Second-year watch Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 18 and newbie monitor Kira Lewis Jr. set another high with 16 focuses in a save job. New Orleans community Jaxson Hayes scored 15 focuses shortly, hitting multiple times inside and making each of the seven of his free tosses.
The Lakers, lost their third in a row — all without Davis and the previous two without James, who hyper-extended his lower leg from the get-go in a misfortune to Atlanta on Saturday that began the current pallet.
“We had a stretch in the second quarter where we hit a big drop, which really hurt us in this game,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “We didn’t play well enough defensively, particularly in that third quarter. We are going to miss guys like LeBron and Anthony on both sides of the ball, so getting us organized offensively is probably my top priority right now.”
Montrezl Harrell had 18 focuses for the Lakers, while Kuzma and Markieff Morris each scored 16. Kuzma additionally got 10 bounce back and had seven helps.
New Orleans opened its first twofold digit lead in the subsequent quarter and went up by 17 on Ingram’s 27-foot 3-pointer, one of four he hit from profound.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3 managed the Pelicans’ lead to 59-46 at halftime.
The Lakers never got inside single digits in the subsequent half and followed by upwards of 30.
TIP-INS
Lakers: Have lost four of their previous five out and about. … Dennis Schroder scored 15 focuses and Wesley Matthews had 14. … The Lakers went 18 of 37 from 3-point range (48.6%).
Pelicans: Starting point monitor Lonzo Ball missed his subsequent straight game with a stressed right hip flexor. Alexander-Walker began in his place. … Steven Adams had 12 focuses and seven bounce back. … Australian freshman Will Magnay saw his first NBA activity in the last three minutes. He endeavored one shot from 3-point range and missed. … New Orleans missed 19 of 29 from 3-point an area. … Outrebounded the Lakers 53-34 and outscored them 62-32 in the paint.
POINT PRODUCTION
Williamson said he doesn’t know how long he can support his 20-point streak since he’s doing whatever it takes not to be childish with the ball on the offensive end.
“Since I have the ball in my hands a lot and my coach and teammates trust me, I could just shoot a lot and get 20 points, but my teammates and coaches know that’s not the game I want to play,” Williamson said. “I want to get everybody involved and hunt for the best shot. So getting those 20 points, some nights it is going to be tougher. But nights like tonight, when there’s a lot of ball movement and B.I.’s doing his thing, that really opens up the game for me.”
UP NEXT
Lakers: Host the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night in the first of four directly at home.
Pelicans: Host the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
