23-11<\/a>) are Doncic\u2019s team and the rest of them will follow his lead, including James.<\/p>\n\u201cLuka don\u2019t need to bend his game. Luka is our (26-year-old) franchise for this ball club,\u201d James said. \u201cHe don\u2019t need to bend this game. It\u2019s up to us to bend our game around him and figure it out. We just try to be dynamic to work off of him. We know he is an unbelievable pick-and-roll player, unbelievable shot maker. He commands the defense. He had four eyes, sometimes six eyes on him. So it\u2019s us\u2026It\u2019s up to us to put ourselves in the right position. So, it\u2019s not a problem for me, it\u2019s not an issue for me. To be able to do things that… I don\u2019t know\u2026I just don\u2019t think people watch basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
So when Doncic threw a two-handed lob pass from beyond the three-point line to a high-flying James on the baseline in the second quarter, it was another example of how Doncic controls the game and how James fits in.<\/p>\n
The Lakers opened the fourth quarter with an intensity on defense.<\/p>\n
They turned a deficit at the end of the third into a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter by opening the quarter with an 18-4 run to take a 97-90 lead.<\/p>\n
Still, it took the Lakers playing hard until the end to close out the victory.<\/p>\n
When Doncic lost control of the basketball late, it looked like it would be a 24-second clock violation as he stumbled.<\/p>\n
Instead, he got the ball back with James and two Pelican defenders all close by and shot a wild floating three-pointer for a 105-96 Lakers lead with one minute and 59 seconds left.<\/p>\n
Doncic looked at the Pelicans bench after the ball settled into the net and roared.<\/p>\n
The Pelicans called a time out, leading James to bump Doncic on the back, put his head in Doncic\u2019s chest and then slap him on the head, the two of them smiling at the magical moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him (James), he set a great screen. If you don\u2019t set that screen, I probably was not that open,\u201d Doncic said, joking and smiling. \u201cBut, it was a great moment. He started the fourth quarter with two threes and then an assist. So he got us back into the game. We appreciate him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defense the Lakers played in the fourth was tremendous.<\/p>\n
They held the Pelicans to17 points and 33.3% shooting. The Lakers took three charges in the fourth, one a career-first by Dalton Knecht and one by Doncic.<\/p>\n
Now the Lakers turn their attention to playing a back-to-back game Wednesday night in San Antonio and the question presented to James was about him playing.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old James said it was \u201cTBD,\u201d to be determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys know that,\u201d James said. \u201cI\u2019m 41 years old, of course, it\u2019s always\u2026Every back-to-back for the rest of the season is TBD. I am 41. I got the most minutes in NBA history. Bank it right now. What are we talking about? What are we talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Doncic had 16 points and six assists in the first half and James had 15 points and six rebounds.<\/p>\n
But starting forward Jake LaRavia didn\u2019t score in his 18 minutes of play in the first half.<\/p>\n
The Lakers then went down by nine points in the third quarter, meaning they had to play catch-up the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
The Lakers play a back-to-back game Wednesday night in San Antonio, leading to Redick being asked if the 41-year-old James would play against the Spurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no plan for any of our players,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna see what happens tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etc.<\/p>\n
Lakers guard Gabe Vincent is on the two-game trip, but he was downgraded to out for the game against the Pelicans with a lumbar back strain. Vincent has missed the last nine games, but there is hope he\u2019ll be available Wednesday against San Antonio. \u201cWe just downgraded Gabe,\u201d Redick said. \u201cHe has not had a setback, but we\u2019re hoping he gets to play tomorrow. But again, it\u2019s all about how he feels tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW ORLEANS\u00a0\u2014\u00a0LeBron James and Luka Doncic left the fans inside the Smoothie King Center in awe at their…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":498595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[38124,1582,276,3372,55674,8601,2961,8604,8600,223965,224,5337,3365,11148,3137,23883,449,24566,57439,78355],"class_list":{"0":"post-498594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-assist","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-deandre-ayton","12":"tag-half","13":"tag-james","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-lakers","16":"tag-lebron","17":"tag-lob-pass","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-minute","22":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","23":"tag-pelicans","24":"tag-point","25":"tag-rebound","26":"tag-straight-game","27":"tag-three-pointer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115853116424145819","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}