The Lakers woke up Saturday morning, looked at the teams behind them in the Western Conference standings and got a glimpse of a New Orleans Pelicans team that Los Angeles viewed as a potential NBA play-in tournament foe.
On Sunday, the Lakers came face to face with the Pelicans and saw for themselves how troublesome New Orleans can be.
The fans inside Crypto.com Arena saw it, too, raining down boos on the lifeless Lakers in the third quarter, letting them know that their big deficit that led to a 123-95 beatdown by the Pelicans was unacceptable.
When the final buzzer sounded, the fans booed more as the Lakers walked off the court.
“I think each play we get down on ourselves too much and just not playing as hard as we can,” Russell Westbrook said. “Teams are coming in and playing harder. And I believe that’s kind of the scouting report, just play harder than them and see what happens and it’s working. Until we determine and have a determination that we’re not going to allow it, especially on our home floor, it will continue to happen to us.”
As the ninth seed in the West, the Lakers now hold just a 2 1/2-game lead over the 10th-seeded Pelicans.
The Lakers have 22 regular-season games remaining, two of them against this same New Orleans team that just steamrolled Los Angeles.
The Lakers have lost their first two games after the All-Star break, showing no sense of urgency against the Pelicans, falling six games below .500 (27-33).
LeBron James led the Lakers with 32 points on 13-for-23 shooting, but his effort was meaningless in a game the Lakers trailed by as many as 32 points. James also had seven turnovers.
“I had some horrible turnovers,” James said. “Probably about four of them was pretty bad.”
Westbrook had 16 points, but he was just five for 15 from the field and also had seven turnovers and just one assist.
The Lakers shot just 20.6% (seven for 34) from 3-point range.
When James threw a cross-court pass that went under Lakers guard Talen Horton-Tucker’s hands and out of bounds with five minutes left in the third quarter, the boos started.
When the Lakers called a timeout with 5:39 left, now down 75-53, the boos came yet again.
When the Lakers went down 95-65 at the end of the third quarter, the fans booed them again.
By game’s end, the Lakers had 23 turnovers.
“It’s real easy to give up, throw in the towel and say negative things,” Dwight Howard said.
“So, I’m really at a loss for words. But we got to stay positive. We can’t sulk in defeat and we can’t quit on each other. I know it’s been a very rough season.”
The Lakers were outscored 44-25 in the third. Their defense was ripped apart, allowing the Pelicans to shoot 64% in the third. Their offense was horrible, the Lakers making just 33.3% of their shots in the third, missing all nine of their 3-point attempts.
The Lakers were unable to slow New Orleans’ trio of Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and CJ McCollum.
Before Ingram produced 19 points, eight assists and five rebounds, Valanciunas another double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and McCollum 22 points, eight assists and five rebounds, Lakers coach Frank Vogel spoke glowingly about them.
“I don’t want to put a name on it, but CJ and BI and Jonas, all three of them are horses,” Vogel said. “Like, they can all beat you by themselves. And I think it’s a great fit for them. And the shift to CJ playing point guard is something that so far is reaping benefits.”
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