Swooning Lakers face Pelicans in play-in roulette

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans both came out of the All-Star Break on Friday night looking to strengthen their postseason prospects.

The Lakers lost to the Clippers, weakening their hold on the third of four play-in spots. The Pelicans won at Phoenix, moving within one game of the final play-in spot.

The Lakers and the Pelicans will meet Sunday night in Los Angeles.

«It’s our last 20-plus games, every game is important,» LeBron James said after scoring 21 points but making just 6 of 18 shots in the 105-102 loss to their crosstown rivals. «For us to go down in the fashion that we went down … we definitely need to play better basketball to where we’re not building deficits like that early on.»

The Lakers missed their first 10 shots and fell behind by as many as 16 points in the first half. They rallied to take a six-point lead at the end of three quarters but fell behind again and in the final seconds, James’ potential tying jumper from the corner bounce off the rim.

«This is a game we’re supposed to win,» said Carmelo Anthony, who scored 18 points in his first appearance in three weeks due to a hamstring injury.

But they didn’t, losing for the fourth time in five games and eighth in 11. The last three of those losses have been by one possession.

«Not good enough,» said Russell Westbrook, who scored 18.

Making matters worse is that All-Star forward Anthony Davis, a former Pelican, is out until the middle of March because of a foot injury.

New Orleans took advantage of the absence of another former Pelican, Chris Paul (who has a fractured thumb) to win 117-102, stopping Phoenix’s eight-game winning streak.

It was just the Pelicans’ second victory in six games since CJ McCollum joined the team in a trade with Portland. McCollum (32 points) and Brandon Ingram (28) had their most productive combined performance.

«I think we’re just starting to figure it out,» New Orleans coach Willie Green said. «(We have) a lot of work in front of us, but those two guys were spectacular just playing off of each other. The ball was moving. They can still get to pick and rolls, isolations, whatever they do. But I liked the fact that they played more off of each other.»

The Pelicans took control by outscoring the Suns 42-31 in the third quarter to take a 14-point lead. They finished 33 of 41 at the free-throw line (80.5%) as McCollum and Ingram made a combined 18 of 22.

«We got stops,» Green said. «Once we got stops, we got out and tried to play a little faster. We were able to get to the free-throw line.»

New Orleans has won four consecutive road games after holding Phoenix to its fewest points in its past 10 home games.

«It was a defensive effort,» said center Jonas Valanciunas, who had 18 points and 17 rebounds. «We played good basketball for 48 minutes. After the (All-Star) break, we want to establish that we are a good team, and we’re doing it now.»

–Field Level Media