Lakers blow 20-point halftime lead, lose to Pelicans and fall to 10th place in West

The highway ends right here.

That message is written in huge letters on the surface of the Superdome, the constructing that can host the Remaining 4 subsequent weekend.

Sunday, although, the message may’ve been directed on the Lakers — a workforce desperately attempting to be one of many Western Convention’s last 4 into the postseason.

These probabilities, although, took a major hit, a second-half collapse costing the Lakers an opportunity to construct treasured cushion within the standings and shifting them nearer to falling out of the image.

Regardless of a 39-point sport from LeBron James, the Lakers misplaced 116-108 to New Orleans, blowing a 23-point lead and squandering all of the momentum they’d constructed by displaying indicators of life over the earlier 4 video games.

Former Lakers ahead Brandon Ingram led New Orleans with 26 factors, the Lakers’ defensive depth and execution quickly eroding as the sport went on.

The workforce now trails New Orleans by a half-game for ninth within the West and leads San Antonio by only one sport for tenth — the ultimate spot within the NBA’s play-in event. The Pelicans maintain the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Lakers, having gained twice within the three-game season collection, which concludes Friday at Crypto.com Area.

The Lakers opened the sport on a 12-0 run, James flying across the court docket after 5 days of relaxation main into one of many greatest video games of the season. Pink sizzling from deep, James made six of 9 three-pointers to push the Lakers forward by as many as 23 and so they held a 69-49 benefit, at halftime.

James even performed by way of a scary ankle harm within the first half, although his mobility was noticeably impacted for the remainder of the sport.

But within the last minutes of the half, the Lakers let their foot off the fuel. The Pelicans made a few uncontested pictures, constructed a littlemomentum and set the stage for his or her second-half comeback.

The Pelicans outscored the Lakers 41-25 within the third quarter, rookie Trey Murphy III scoring 16 factors in simply eight minutes whereas the Lakers turned the ball over 5 instances, resulting in 11 New Orleans factors.

New Orleans pushed forward within the fourth because the Lakers by no means recaptured the vitality and effectiveness they confirmed early, their season in deep trouble with simply eight video games remaining.