On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers hosted a team that had not won since before the All-Star break and lost. The Lakers cut a massive deficit and nearly came back against the New Orleans Pelicans before falling short in front of their home fans—well, not all of them.
Considering the performance and the caliber of play displayed in the first half of Tuesday night’s game, one would find it hard to express shock that the Lakers failed to sell out. However, Tuesday was only the third time the Lakers did not sell out at Staples Center this season. As a note, two of those three occasions came against the New Orleans Pelicans.
For those who did make it into the arena, this game was difficult to watch in the first half.
After the first quarter, the Lakers were down by 12 points. In the second quarter, the Lakers regressed further. At two points in the second quarter, the Lakers trailed by 19 points. At the halftime intermission, the Lakers trailed by 16 points and had allowed 67 points.
As a reminder, the Pelicans had previously lost eight in a row and were losers in 10 of their last 13 contests.
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Apparently, the Lakers got that reminder at halftime.
In the third period, the Lakers came out determined to fight and get back into the game. The Lakers cut the lead to six points during that third period, but the game expanded to 10 points before the fourth quarter got underway.
In the final period, the Lakers threatened the Pelicans and made a game of it. They cut the deficit to only four points on two separate occasions. However, the Pelicans continued to make timely baskets to keep the Lakers out of reach. With 17 seconds remaining, the Lakers cut the lead to three points, but it was not to be.
The Lakers lost 132-125 and fell to 21-40 on the season.
