Pelicans stun Lakers with huge comeback win: 3 takeaways

It was a tale of two halves for the New Orleans Pelicans.

After playing one of their worst halves of the season, New Orleans rallied in the second behind their defense, Brandon Ingram and some timely contributions from Trey Murphy III.

They turned a 23-point deficit into an eight-point win much to the delight of the packed crowd, which had its share of purple and gold dappled throughout.

There were far too many Lakers’ jerseys in the first few rows and it was a thing of beauty to watch them stand there stunned at the end of the game.

The win propelled the Pelicans into the 9th seed, which has implications not only for the play-in tournament but for the 2022 NBA Draft pick they are owed from the Lakers.

The 9th seed not only gets New Orleans home court advantage in the play-in game, but would also give them much getter odds of keeping their pick, which they get if it falls into the top-10.

With so much on the line it was great to see the young Pelicans step up, and just about everyone had a hand in this win.

Here are three takeaways from the Pelicans’ stunning comeback.

New Orleans Pelicans: It starts with the defense

After allowing 69 first half points to the Lakers, most of which looked far too easy, the Pelicans started making it hard.

They closed the space the Lakers were getting in the first half, forced LA into tough shots by playing ball handlers into the help, got their hands in the passing lanes and tried to force someone other than LeBron to take shots.

Herbert Jones led the way with six steals and it was his 4th-quarter defense on LeBron that was the difference in the game, as he made it tough for LBJ to even catch the ball.

Stops in the early third quarter led to transition buckets and early offense where the Lakers were off balance and often had to resort to fouls.

The Pelicans have been building their identity around their defense this season, and it was the reason they were able to come back last night.

They held LeBron James scoreless for the final eight minutes and the entire Lakers team for the final two, riding their defense to the win.

Welcome back Brandon Ingram!

How nice was it to have Brandon Ingram back in the lineup?

Ingram didn’t miss a beat after missing 10 straight games and had one of his most clutch performances of the season, scoring an efficient 26 points and adding seven rebounds and five assists.

BI took over in the 3rd quarter, was aggressive in transition and early half court sets, getting to the mid-range and forcing the Lakers into tough decisions and switches.

His aggressiveness on offense was one of the turning points in the 3rd quarter, as he was getting to the line and allowing the Pelicans to score while the clock was stopped.

But it wasn’t just Ingram’s clutch scoring that changed the momentum of the game, a terrible call also lit a fire under the Pelicans and got their bench going.

Trey Murphy III was the next man up for the New Orleans Pelicans

Though the Pelicans haven’t gotten consistent bench play from any one guy, they have had a multitude of players step up at different times in the season.

The previous two games it was Jose Alvarado, whose energy, defense and dribble penetration were huge for the Pels.

Last night, it was Trey Murphy II, who took over the game for a stretch in the 3rd quarter after getting hit with possibly the weakest technical foul I’ve ever seen in my many many years of watching professional basketball.

The Pels’ broadcast team (best in the league, by the way) were livid and should have been. This was a playoff atmosphere and you hit a guy with a technical FOR THAT? LeBron does worse 3-4 times in every game and never gets T’d up.

It backfired for the Lakers, because that call seemed to light a fire under Trey Murphy III, who was suddenly everywhere, hitting 3-pointers, scoring through contact off the bounce, getting clutch offensive rebounds and taking charges.

He scored 16 points in the 3rd quarter to lead New Orleans, finishing with 21 in his best game of the season.

You have to give coach Willie Green credit for keeping some of these guys motivated, prepared and confident enough to have games like that late in the season after being out of the rotation.

It’s been a “next up” approach for the Pels all season and coach Green has done a masterful job of keeping his guys ready.