The NBA Midseason Championship ushered in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers host the Pelicans, and the winner of this game will directly advance to the finals and the Pacers for the championship of the first quarter of the Midseason Championship!The starting lineups of both sides remained the same in this game, and the Lakers fielded a starting lineup with a very high winning percentage, Russell, James, Prince, Reddish and Davis, and the Pelicans starting lineup was Ingram, McCollum, Jones, Zion and Valanciunas.
As soon as the game started, you could see the Lakers' preparation for the game, especially in defense, Reddish wrapped around McCollum, Prince defended Ingram, and James defended Zion, which was simply playoff intensity. This defensive intensity also allowed the Pelicans to make just one three-pointer out of three-point shooting.
The Lakers were different on the offensive end, with James taking the lead in a two-and-a-one shot, Russell shooting from mid-range and Reddish and Prince also making three-pointers. The key to the game is to see how long the Lakers can sustain this defensive intensity.
Then the Lakers made mistakes themselves, Davis and James missed dunks, and also lost defensive rebounds, allowing the Pelicans to play a transition offense and quickly overtake the score. After entering the rotation lineup, the Lakers missed a group of shots on the court, Reaves, Christie and Hachimura did not make the first few shots, and finally switched offense Reaves and threw three points to help the Lakers score. The good news for the Lakers is that after the first five turnovers, they got them under control.
The Pelicans found their outside touch, Alwanado and Murphy made three three-pointers in succession, which helped the Pelicans take the lead, but fortunately, Reaves also made two shots, and the last attack Reaves missed three points, and the Lakers fell behind the Pelicans 29-30.
Second quarter of the game,James returned to the court, first defending Zion, causing Zion to walk, and in the offensive round, he made three three-pointers in succession against the defense, the first one against the defense, the second one outside the three-point line, and the third three-point midfield logo position, and then scored an empty inside layup, and one person contracted the Lakers' 11 points in the quarter
When the Pelicans focused on Lao Zhan, the Lakers began to play inside, and Hayes and Reddish both completed dunks to help the Lakers stretch the score to 9 points.
I have to praise James, who continued to contribute on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends after the Pelicans took a timeout, and after playing two and one against the defense, the defensive end caused Ingram to foul on offense, and assisted Russell to shoot a three-pointer in the next round. After James was off the fieldThe Pelicans began to use joint defense, and in just one round, Ham replaced Reaves, and after being successfully defended for two consecutive rounds, Prince finally made a three-pointer.
During this time, the Pelicans scored under the basket one after another, and then Valanciunas also hit a three-pointer, and Ingram hit the inside to cause Davis to foul, and after making one of two free throws, the score was chased to two pointsJust 2 minutes Ham had to get James backThe effect was immediate, and the Lakers' offense was immediately changed, Davis scored under the basket, James converted to score on the offensive layup, and James caused Zion's offensive foul！Prince also hit a three-pointer, Reaves converted the offense and caused CJ to foul, and after hitting both free throws, the Lakers went on a 9-0 run in just 1 minute and 15 seconds, and then James continued to make fouls, and Prince hit a three-point shot (three three-pointers in a row), and the Lakers led the Pelicans 67-54 at halftime.
In the third quarter of the game, James continued to dominate the game on the court, first scoring a layup, then sending assists to Davis and Russell, Prince completed a steal, and Russell passed the ball to Davis for a layup and was fouled, and Davis hit one of two free throws. The Pelicans only hit one 2-point throw in three minutes.
After the Lakers led by 20 points, they began to relax, Zion singled Davis twice in a row, and slightly helped the Pelicans narrow the gap, but James faced Zion's defense and hit a three-pointer again, and immediately stabilized the situation. It is worth noting that James taught Zion a lesson in this game, and Zion couldn't get in in the face of James's defensive interiorOn the defensive end, James had both layups and outside shots, and James defended Zion with two offensive fouls in the first half
In the rest of the quarter, James continued to dominate the game on the court, not only scoring free throws by causing fouls one after another, but also giving Russell an assist for three points and Davis an assist for an empty catch!The margin was stretched to 30 points. The Pelicans didn't fight back against the Lakers' defensive lineup.
Then after Lao Zhan went off the court, the Pelicans did not seize the opportunity, but let the Lakers further open the difference, and at the end of the third quarter, the Lakers led the Pelicans by 39 points, and the score was 110-71 Pelicans!
The last quarter also became garbage time, and both sides played on the court with all substitutes, and there was no suspense for 39 points, congratulating the Lakers in advance for advancing to the midseason championship finals, and the next game will compete with the Pacers for the championship!