LeBron, Lakers play their way in
LeBron James had 23 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, and the Lakers secured a playoff berth with a 110-106 victory over the Pelicans in the Western Conference play-in tournament Tuesday night in New Orleans.
Zion Williamson had 40 points and 11 rebounds in his NBA postseason debut. But shortly after tying the game at 95 on a driving layup with 3:19 to go, Williamson went to the locker room, throwing a towel to the floor in disgust as he walked into the tunnel with an apparent injury.
After the game, Pelicans coach Willie Green said Williamson had “left leg soreness.”
“He’s going to have some imaging on it tomorrow, and we’ll figure out more,” Green said.
Soon after, James hit a jumper, Anthony Davis dunked Austin Reaves’ alley-oop lob, DeAngelo Russell hit a 3 and Davis grabbed a crucial offensive rebound, after which he hit two free throws to help the Lakers hold off New Orleans.
Davis had 20 points and 15 rebounds. Russell scored 21, hitting five times from deep.
The Lakers advance to face defending champion Denver in the first round in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals, which was swept by the Nuggets. Game 1 is Saturday night.
The Pelicans will take on the winner of the other West play-in game between Golden State and Sacramento on Friday.
The Lakers went 14-for-35 from 3-point range. The Pelicans hit 9 of 29 from deep, and Williamson didn’t get a lot of help from the Pelicans’ usual high scorers. Brandon Ingram missed 8 of 12 shots and finished with 11 points. CJ McCollum missed 11 of 15 shots and scored nine.
Trey Murphy III scored 12, hitting two 3s from beyond 28 feet in the second half to help New Orleans come back to tie it from a deficit as large as 18 points.
The Lakers led 75-57 after Rui Hachimura’s layup in the third quarter. But New Orleans got back in the game by outscoring the Lakers 19-8 during the final 5:31 of the period.
Williamson sparked the surge with a pair of layups. Murphy pulled up for a 31-foot 3-pointer in the final minute of the quarter and Williamson’s free throw made it 83-76 at the end of the period.
The Pelicans finally tied it when Williamson slammed down Jose Alvarado’s alley-oop lob in transition to make it 93-all with 3:53 to go.
Warriors eliminated
In Sacramento, Calif., Keegan Murray scored 32 points, De’Aaron Fox added 24 and the Sacramento Kings stayed alive in the play-in tournament, eliminating the Warriors with a 118-94 victory.
Sacramento advanced to play at New Orleans on Friday night with a chance to return to the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference after snapping an NBA record 16-year playoff drought last season.
The Kings avenged a Game 7 loss at home to Golden State in last year’s first round by playing cleaner and being quicker to loose balls against the older Warriors in what was one of the most consequential wins for the franchise in two decades.
The loss kept Golden State out of the playoffs for the third time in the past five seasons, including two eliminations in the play-in tournament. Stephen Curry scored 22 for the Warriors.