How Lakers beat Pelicans in Play-In Tournament: Zion Williamson suffers injury amid career performance

Jonas Valančiūnas is the guy to keep an eye on early in tonight's game. Size and physicality were major issues for the Pels in Sunday's regular-season finale against the Lakers. New Orleans has really leaned into playing small the past few weeks with Zion Williamson and Larry Nance Jr. at center, but it's really hard to live that way against the Lakers' frontcourt. LeBron James and Anthony Davis did an amazing job of putting constant pressure on the rim the last time these teams played.

If JV can slow that down (or at least match it on the other end), it would be huge for the Pelicans' chances. If not, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes an early seat in this one and stays on the bench the rest of the night.

• CJ McCollum
• Herb Jones
• Brandon Ingram
• Zion Williamson
• Jonas Valanciunas

• D’Angelo Russell
• Austin Reaves
• Rui Hachimura
• LeBron James
• Anthony Davis

Record as starters: 18-6

It didn’t take long for small ball to become a thing of the past in the NBA.

Along with having arguably the two best shooters of all time, the Golden State Warriors built their championship dynasty over the past decade using lineups that emphasize speed, athleticism and defensive versatility over size and strength. Draymond Green’s success as a then-undersized power forward who shut down top centers gave Golden State an advantage very few teams could emulate, even as they tried.

Over time, as more bigs entered the league built on the blueprint laid out by Green, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant, many of those same teams began covering two bases at once: Playing fast and playing big.

That list does not include the 2023-24 New Orleans Pelicans. Though the Pels have enjoyed one of their best seasons in recent memory, they have a clear Achilles heel at the center position.

Jonas Valančiūnas and Larry Nance Jr. provide specific skill sets that at times maximize stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram on both ends of the court. Despite their clear limitations, each deserves credit for logging the vast majority of their minutes at center on a team that allows the fourth-fewest points per 100 possessions in the league.

However, their ineffectiveness in a late March loss to the NBA-leading Boston Celtics illuminated the challenge Pels head coach Willie Green will continue to face as he tries to solve perhaps this team’s biggest issue entering the postseason: How to get 48 minutes of effective center play against top teams that will exploit any weakness.

Continue reading.

Here's how The Athletic's staff sees Lakers-Pelicans playing out:

• Richard Deitsch: Lakers
• Andrew DeWitt: Pelicans
• Jason Jones: Lakers
• Dan Santaromita: Lakers
• Andrew Schlecht: Lakers
• Sam Vecenie: Lakers

Best storyline for the game: Anthony Davis still seems to love sticking it to the Pelicans. Davis is 11-3 against the Pelicans since they traded him to LA back in 2019.

How’d the season series go? How relevant was it? The Lakers went 3-1 against the Pelicans, outscoring New Orleans by 57 points in the four games. This feels pretty relevant! The Lakers have mostly dominated the Pelicans over the last couple years, and two of this season’s wins came post-trade deadline.

Key matchup: Davis against Zion Williamson. Will Zion put pressure on Davis and his questionable back?

Key stat: Make 15 or more 3-pointers. The Lakers are 14-4 this season when they hit that mark. They have the third-fewest 3-point attempts in the NBA. New Orleans went 18-3 when in games with at least 15 3s, including their only win over the Lakers (20-point win on Dec. 31).

Crazy theory for this game: Both teams would be better off losing this game and taking the No. 8 seed so they can avoid the Nuggets in the first round – especially the Lakers.

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It didn’t take long for small ball to become a thing of the past in the NBA.

Along with having arguably the two best shooters of all time, the Golden State Warriors built their championship dynasty over the past decade using lineups that emphasize speed, athleticism and defensive versatility over size and strength. Draymond Green’s success as a then-undersized power forward who shut down top centers gave Golden State an advantage very few teams could emulate, even as they tried.

Over time, as more bigs entered the league built on the blueprint laid out by Green, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant, many of those same teams began covering two bases at once: Playing fast and playing big.

That list does not include the 2023-24 New Orleans Pelicans. Though the Pels have enjoyed one of their best seasons in recent memory, they have a clear Achilles heel at the center position.

Jonas Valančiūnas and Larry Nance Jr. provide specific skill sets that at times maximize stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram on both ends of the court. Despite their clear limitations, each deserves credit for logging the vast majority of their minutes at center on a team that allowed the sixth-fewest points per 100 possessions in the league.

However, their ineffectiveness down the stretch of the season illuminated the challenge Pels head coach Willie Green will continue to face as he tries to solve perhaps this team's biggest issue entering the postseason: How to get 48 minutes of effective center play against top teams that will exploit any weakness.

Read the rest of my April 1 story here.

Without Jarred Vanderbilt, and with so many nagging injuries to other rotation players, the Lakers shifted to the only alternate plan they hadn't yet tried this season: Starting Rui Hachimura in place of Taurean Prince and reforming the group that so often closed games in last season’s playoffs. As of Feb. 5, Hachimura had only logged 140 minutes next to Davis and James this season, compared to Prince's 785.

It paid immediate dividends. The Lakers won their next game on the road against the red-hot New York Knicks and slowly began to salvage their season. The team finished the season 22-10 with Hachimura as the regular fifth starter alongside D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, not including a loss to Golden State in which Davis left with an eye injury after the first quarter. Darvin Ham immediately noted how the larger starting frontline "created a nice sense of balance."

"We’re just very big," James said on Feb. 5 of the new starting lineup. "We have a lot of length, a lot of athleticism. Rui works well with us."

The unit's success, at least compared to other Laker starting groups this season, begs a question many Lakers fans — and even some inside the organization — have asked all season. If these groups were so successful in last season's surprise run to the Western Conference finals, why'd it take so long to go back to them?

"I’ve been telling them, like, this is who we are," Hachimura said on Feb. 14. "We've been trying a lot of different things, some lineups and all this stuff, but this is the lineup we had in the playoffs and that's how we won, so it’s simple. … It's just that we know, we're just really comfortable playing each other."

Read the rest of my March 22 story here.

The NBA Board of Governors has discussed a proposal that the round to which a team advances in the NBA Cup would be used as the first postseason tiebreaker, league sources said. The league is polling general managers on NBA Cup advancement versus head-to-head results as the first tiebreaker to bring for a final vote.

If the Lakers win Tuesday’s rematch with the Pelicans in the No. 7 versus No. 8 game Tuesday, they'll be the No. 7 seed and play the defending champion No. 2 Denver Nuggets in the first round.

No West team wants to play the Nuggets, who remain the favorite to come out of the Western Conference. Denver went 12-3 against the West in the playoffs last season, including sweeping the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. The Nuggets have also won eight consecutive games against the Lakers across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, dominating them in crunch time. They have the consensus best player in the world in Nikola Jokić, arguably the best lineup in the league and an unsolvable two-man game between Jokić and Jamal Murray.

At the same time, no team wants to play a single-elimination game, even at home, when an injury, foul trouble or hot shooting night from an opponent could spell the end of your season. The Lakers are a combined 1-7 against the No. 9 Sacramento Kings and No. 10 Golden State Warriors this season — though LeBron James and Anthony Davis each missed at least one of the three losses against the Warriors. The Kings are now without injured guards Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter, which makes them more beatable. But they still have De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, who have both given the Lakers fits for years. The Warriors have Stephen Curry, still one of the best offensive forces in the world, and a championship core that has rounded into form over the second half of the season.

There is no easy path for the Lakers to repeat last season's postseason success or advance even further. Not in this deep of a Western Conference. Not when a disastrous 3-10 stretch from December through January ultimately made them a Play-In team. Not when it took more than 50 games for them to find the proper starting lineup. Not when they've had this many injuries to key members of their supporting cast. The road forward will be challenging without home-court advantage from the No. 7 or No. 8 spot, assuming, of course, the Lakers even make the playoffs.

But this is exactly why earning a spot in the No. 7 versus No. 8 game with Sunday's result presents a win-win scenario for the purple and gold. The Lakers don't have to pick the postseason scenario they prefer. Both outcomes have upsides and downsides. All the Lakers can control is showing up against the Pelicans on Tuesday, playing their best game possible and letting the proverbial chips fall where they may.

Read the rest of my story here.

Odds for tonight's game, via BetMGM:

Spread: Pelicans -1.5

Moneyline: Pelicans -110, Lakers -110

Total: 223.5

While Willie Green was hired in July 2021, league sources say Green has multiple years remaining on an extension that had not been previously reported.

The contract revelation above tells you all you need to know about Green's standing in New Orleans, as he remains the organization’s choice to lead this talented Pelicans group that has so much promise. In terms of the bigger picture, it matters a great deal that there has been progress for a third consecutive season — from 36 wins in his rookie head coaching campaign to 42 to 49 this season. Still, this postseason is pivotal when it comes to the Pelicans knowing what to make of this pricey core. Green’s ability to get the best out of this group that shows flashes of brilliance is vital.

Zion Williamson's second-half surge is the most important development, with the 23-year-old playing the best basketball of his underwhelming (and injury-riddled) career these past few months. He's signed through the 2027-28 season, when his salary tops out at $44.8 million. Yet as our Mike Vorkunov reported in December, the deal is no longer guaranteed for the final three seasons because of Williamson’s inability to meet a condition of the contract last season relating to games played (he missed 53 in all).

CJ McCollum is signed through 2025-26 ($30.6 million that season). The next key negotiation involves Brandon Ingram, whose deal expires after next season ($36 million) and who plans on discussing an extension with New Orleans this summer. If the Pels can survive the Play-In, which starts with them hosting the Lakers on Tuesday night, winning a playoff series or two would go a long way toward crystallizing this pricey plan.

Read my primer on the 20 coaches in the postseason here.

It's hard to recall a season where a player has made such a defensive transformation as Zion Willamson has this season. Since he was drafted in 2019, he has been a defensive liability for the Pelicans.

Williamson has shown flashes of good defensive instincts, but nothing like the blocks or defensive commitment he gave at Duke. He was volleyball-spiking shots like you and I do on a NERF rim.

But Williamson’s effort reached a crisis against the Los Angeles Lakers in the In-Season Tournament final four. He looked disinterested and out of shape.

Then something changed for Williamson; it's as if a switch was flipped. After the All-Star break, Williamson was showing the effort. He went from making one defensive play to multiple ones on the same possession.

The numbers show it. After the All-Star break, the Pelicans' defensive rating improved to 106.9 with him on the floor.

As impressive as the numbers have been, it’s worth noting who Williamson is guarding, too. He matches up against the opponent's top options and holds his own.

Read the rest of my breakdown here.

LOS ANGELES — No one remembers what exactly spurred the change.

Perhaps it was D'Angelo Russell breaking out as one of the league's top shooters. Perhaps the group just needed time to fully grasp the five-out schemes coach Darvin Ham implemented in training camp. Perhaps it began with starting Rui Hachimura and leaning more on the core players from last season's postseason run. Perhaps the players needed to hash things out after a rough stretch in mid-to-late December and early January. Perhaps it's some combination of all of the above.

But whatever the reason, the Lakers’ offensive turnaround in early January has given them a legitimate chance to not only make the playoffs, but go on a similar run to last season’s, when they made the Western Conference finals as the No. 7 seed.

And it’s their offense, which ranks third in the NBA in points scored per 100 possessions since Jan. 7, that has turned their season around.

Read the rest of my story from April 7 here.