Pelicans put finishing touches on Lakers: 3 takeaways

Young players in the clutch for the Pelicans

Willie Green has done a masterful job of using his bench lately, as he has kept his young guys ready, trusted them in big moments and they have come through.

Jose Alvarado didn’t get a ton of minutes last night, but with the Lakers up six with 8:00 left in the 4th quarter and looking like they might go on a run, Jose came in and got a 3-point play on a drive to the basket and halted LA’s momentum.

Herb Jones was huge throughout, making several clutch defensive plays down the stretch on LeBron James that were the winning plays of the game that won’t show up in the stats.

Trey Murphy III and Naji Marshall were both on the floor late in the game and made clutch plays. TMIII had two huge rebounds in traffic late and Naji was able to get to the line and convert in the 4th quarter when the Pels needed a bucket.

The future of this team is far more than just Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, as we are watching these young role players step up in huge games and play like veterans.