Lakers vs Pelicans

Both were game-time decisions but LeBron James and Anthony Davis will play for the Lakers Friday vs. the Pelicans in a key game for play-in seeding.

LeBron also drained four shots in a row from 35 feet out, and while he didn’t have to move much for those it was a positive sign. The Lakers need LeBron and Davis to have a shot at those wins, and closer to the bubble versions of their two stars than injured guys just trying to gut out some final games. Davis has been out since the All-Star break with a foot injury, but has been ramping up for weeks, was expected to play tonight, and before the game coach Frank Vogel made it official saying he “is in.”

The Los Angeles Lakers play the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, and if you're wondering how you can watch the action live, you've come to the right place.

F LeBron James F Jaxson Hayes F Brandon Ingram

New Orleans Pelicans vs Los Angeles Lakers Apr 1, 2022 including live play-by-play and highlights.

The coach declined to say whether he thought it was funny. Injuries have been the leading - but hardly the only - factor in Los Angeles' descent from a likely championship contender to a borderline playoff team. Pelicans: Green said his team also was motivated when the lights weren't turned on for their morning shootaround, forcing them to work out in the dark. The fan, who wore a Kobe jersey, was escorted away from his seat by security. See y'all in the fall.'' New Orleans trailed for most of the fourth quarter, but Valanciunas hit a tying 3-pointer with 2:52 to play. We just hung in there, and the game was back and forth. ''It's going to be tough to catch (New Orleans) now, with the lead they have and the tiebreaker,'' Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. Everybody was locked in on the defensive end, and we seemed confident.'' Davis had 23 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in his return from a six-week injury absence since Feb. 16, but the eight-time All-Star's presence wasn't enough to beat his former team. Davis had been hurt for 39 games and healthy for 37 this season, his second straight with major injury problems. Los Angeles went 4-14 in Davis' most recent absence, its disappointing season turning into a potentially humiliating one.

Lakers return home to face New Orleans at 7:30pm PT on Spectrum SportsNet and NBA TV.

While Jonas is excellent on the offensive side of the ball, defensively he struggles as do the Pelicans as a whole. “I came in with the mindset and understanding it was going to be a playoff-type atmosphere, playoff implications and things of that nature,” James said. Jonas Valanciunas is perhaps one of the more underrated centers in the league. Howard did hold up well against Valanciunas early in Sunday’s matchup but fatigued late. Ingram finished with 26 points (10-of-17 from the field), seven rebounds, and five assists. The numbers scream double-double, and rightfully so. The energized individual effort hit a speed bump early in the second quarter after James landed awkwardly on Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes’ foot. “If we’re able to catch a little fire going into these playoff games, a little consistency with lineups, anything is possible. New Orleans is 17th in the league with a defensive rating of 111.4 and Valanciunas is 9th on the team in defensive efficiency (109.7). Both LeBron and AD are listed as QUESTIONABLE for tonight’s game. “We do feel like we are going to get them back at some point,” Vogel said. “If we’re able to get into the play-in game at full strength, we know we have a shot.

The Lakers got LeBron James and Anthony Davis back, but because of their own self-inflicted lineup wounds, it didn't matter. Now they're on the precipice of ...

And the Lakers don’t have the margin for error to make up for any mistakes, and certainly not this many in succession on the same night. Not on a roster this flawed, and certainly not in what was maybe the Lakers’ highest-stakes game of the year. And for all the examples we have of them or their supporting cast not showing up to play this season, the Lakers actually came out with great energy tonight. These are just a few examples of the questionable rotation decisions Vogel made on this night in the first half alone that put the Lakers behind the 8-ball. The bad decisions that led them to this point came in waves. Because if bad basketball groupings that don’t make a lot of sense together on paper or in practice were an album, Vogel played all his greatest hits in the Lakers’ 114-111 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.