The New Orleans Pelicans obliterated the Los Angeles Lakers at home, with the second half of the game largely amounting to glorified garbage time.
The Pels dominated the reigning NBA champions at the Smoothie King Center just a couple of days before the March 25 trade deadline. The much-anticipated contest fizzled out halfway through the third quarter and New Orleans ended up winning 111-128.
Under regular circumstances, this would’ve been a statement win for Stan Van Gundy’s squad, but not on this occasion. The Lakers were severely undermanned. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, and Jared Dudley didn’t suit up. James is expected to be out indefinitely with an ankle injury, whereas Davis underwent a brief warm-up but then got a first-row seat to the Pels’ blowout win.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans were still without Lonzo Ball and JJ Redick. Both of them might have played their last game in a Pelicans uniform, with Redick expected to be traded or bought out soon. Ball missed his second consecutive game with a hip injury, but the timing is certainly interesting with the former UCLA guard being one of the hottest names on the trade market.
Here are the player grades for the Pels’ win over the Lakers, starting with my personal MVP:
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Lakers: Grading the best player
Another best player award for Brandon Ingram who had some sort of a revenge game against the team that drafted him into the NBA.
We’re now over a season removed from the blockbuster Anthony Davis trade that sent Ingram, among others, to the big easy; however, it seems like Ingram has not forgotten this slight. The former all-star is right at home in New Orleans and he showed the Lakers as much.
Ingram finished with 36 points on an efficient 14-of-21 from the field, draining four triples and also contributing four assists. The Lakers couldn’t stop him and, often, it was former teammate Kyle Kuzma bearing the brunt of Ingram’s dominance.
The Pels’ star made it rain from all over the court. He had some downright dirty pull-ups and fadeaways that Los Angeles had no answer for. That is now two straight games with at least 30 points for Ingram, who is averaging a career-high this season.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Lakers: Grades for the guards
It’s hard to get such a bad grade on a great night for your team, but Bledsoe managed to do it.
It probably seems like I’m picking on Bledsoe every time I write these player grades and that’s not really the case. It’s just that he has been so utterly uninspiring this season and his play isn’t picking up at all. If anything, Bledsoe has been getting worse.
The former Kentucky guard scored a meager two points against the Lakers. He has only scored more than 10 points once in his last eight games. This is someone who, until recently, was considered one of the best point guards in the NBA. It was nice to see Reggie Miller call out Bledsoe’s performances this season, pointing out his lack of interest while on the floor.
More worryingly, Bledsoe’s numbers from beyond the arc continue trending downward. Bledsoe missed all of his attempted threes against the Lakers and is shooting just 20 percent from deep in March.
If Bledsoe isn’t motivated to defend, has no sauce off the dribble, and can’t can his threes—what can he provide to a team? I don’t think the Pels will be able to trade him this week.
A career night, at least up to this point, for the Pels rookie.
Lewis scored 16 points in his 20 minutes on the floor, making three of his five attempted triples and dishing out six assists while not turning the ball over at all. It was the type of performance one would expect from a seasoned NBA guard, not a first-year player.
Lewis deserves all the playing time he can get. He always makes an impact on both ends of the floor—Lewis had two blocks against the Lakers and competed on defense against the much bigger Talen Horton-Tucker—and reinvigorates the Pelicans when he comes off the bench.
Watch out for Lewis getting more minutes after this week if any of the Pels’ guards get traded. I’m also sure that some teams around the NBA would be interested in acquiring Lewis, particularly those with a top-tier talent that want a good young player in return, but I don’t expect the Pelicans to pick up those calls.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker continues to get buckets and minutes.
The Virginia Tech draftee started for the Pels again in place of the injured Lonzo Ball and had another solid outing. Barring a down night against the Portland Trail Blazers two games ago, Alexander-Walker has scored 20, 20, and 18 points over three of his last four games.
He once again let the ball fly from deep, attempting nine threes. This is what Stan Van Gundy requires from his guards. On top of that, he was aggressive taking it to the rack, and didn’t look too sped up in terms of trying to score.
The main reason why Alexander-Walker gets docked down a bit is because of his turnovers. He turned the ball over four times to his three assists and is still trying to strike that balance between scoring and facilitating.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Lakers: Grades for the forwards
It was just another night at the office for Zion Williamson.
The Pels’ all-star had his 21st consecutive game with more than 20 points. He shot 70 percent from the field and also managed to get some nice rest. Williamson played less than 30 minutes.
Williamson did a good job getting to the line, drawing ten free throw attempts. The Lakers had no match for him when he got downhill.
Watching the game, it seemed like Williamson was having a down night, but that’s just because he makes everything look absurdly easy. Maybe he didn’t get into a dominant groove, but his impact was still felt given his 27 points. That’s what the best players do.
Josh Hart always delivers and this was mostly the case against the Lakers.
Starting with what brings Hart’s grade down a bit, he had a bad shooting night. Hart only scored two points, missing eight of his nine shots. He didn’t make any threes either, bringing his season percentage to an improvable 33 percent.
However, Hart still made an impact in other ways. He had a team-high 15 rebounds, four of those offensive, and also led the Pelicans in steals. Hart stole the ball from the Lakers five times, playing with active hands and great effort.
The Villanova product also had five assists after getting six of those in his last game. Hart has been playing more at the wing recently because of Lonzo Ball’s injury. He’s done well moving the ball and keeping things simple.
Melli followed up a good performance against the Denver Nuggets with a solid outing against the Lakers.
Most of his minutes came in garbage time, but before that, I thought Melli played relatively well when he entered the game in the first quarter. The Italian big played with effort and didn’t do much wrong. Still, he played so little that I don’t feel comfortable giving him a grade.
I don’t expect Melli to be on the Pels roster next season, so watch out for the possibility of him getting traded this week just as a salary filler. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s in the NBA at all come this time next year.
Naji Marshall came in for three minutes at the end of the game and missed both of his shots.
The former Erie BayHawks player played the role of a victory cigar essentially, especially with Sindarius Thornwell’s second ten-day contract having expired. I’m assuming that Stan Van Gundy wanted to keep his main rotation players in for as long as possible to give them a confidence boost for the next few games.
Still, I want to see more of Marshall in the future. Along with Didi Louzada, he represents a decent chance for the Pels to develop a homegrown 3-and-D wing.
I’ve been a supporter of Wenyen Gabriel for a while, but two turnovers in two minutes isn’t a great look.
The South Sudanese forward checked in for garbage time and that was about it. There’s a universe out there in which Gabriel is a switchy, mobile player that can be effective on a team’s frontcourt rotation, but I don’t think it will happen for him in New Orleans.
Gabriel is on a $1.6 million contract until the end of the season with a team option for next year. He could potentially be used as trade fodder before the trade deadline.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Lakers: Grades for the centers
Steven Adams went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and got the Pelicans off to a great start.
The Kiwi center was unguardable for the Lakers early on in Tuesday’s game. His dives to the rim went undetected and Adams was able to feast in the paint. On top of that, he had seven rebounds and one block.
Some of the perceptions around Adams’ stint in New Orleans bother me. He doesn’t seem like the most natural frontcourt partner to this roster, but I think he’s played quite well. Adams helps the Pelicans a ton on defense and helps space the floor on offense with his screens and rebounds.
Adams cannot be traded prior to the trade deadline.
Jaxson Hayes was my pick for player of the game behind Brandon Ingram.
Things are starting to come together for the big man in March. Hayes made a difference with his rim-running and ability to play above the rim. There are few centers in the NBA who possess Hayes’ blend of mobility and explosiveness, making him hard to guard when he’s locked in.
Hayes finished with 15 points in 19 minutes. His four fouls weren’t great, but I thought he was unlucky on a couple of them. There was also a curious moment in the first half when Hayes led the break himself and it ended up in a Pels bucket.
Something to note: Hayes made all seven of his attempted free throws. The former Texas big is shooting around 75 percent from the charity stripe. That bodes well for him being able to stretch the floor at some point.
The wait is over… Will Magnay finally made it on an NBA court.
In all seriousness, it was nice to see the Australian big get some minutes. He played well for the Erie BayHawks in the shortened G League season and was yet to get any game time at all for Stan Van Gundy.
Magnay played in garbage time before Willy Hernangómez, which I like. I advocated for giving Magnay those minutes since it seems like the Spanish center has no future in New Orleans and, although I’m not going to pretend Stan Van Gundy reads my pieces, it’s worth pointing out.