Lakers jump to 3rd in West standings after win over Pelicans, Nuggets loss

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The Lakers are part of a competitive seeding race in the West. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

(Luke Hales via Getty Images)

The New Orleans Pelicans wound up being more trouble than expected, but it was a good night for the Los Angeles Lakers in the standings.

With a 124-108 win over a New Orleans team still missing every major contributor, the Lakers moved back into third place in the Western Conference with a 47-30 record. They leapfrogged the 47-31 Denver Nuggets, who were blown out by the Golden State Warriors.

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The Lakers shouldn’t have had much trouble with the 21-55 Pelicans with pretty much everyone but Rui Hachimura playing, but it took a while for them to pull away for good. The Pelicans took a lead as large as seven points in the second quarter, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter the Lakers took a double-digit lead and kept it.

That’s not to say there weren’t highlights, though.

It was a strong enough night for the Lakers that LeBron James had 27 points and finished third on his own team in scoring. Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves each posted 30-point games and a combined 13 assists. Reaves also set a Lakers franchise record with 15 3-pointers in his past two games.

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Jose Alvarado, appearing to play through some discomfort, led the Pelicans with 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting

The bigger test for the Lakers will be Sunday, when they go on the road to face the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.

Warriors blow out short-handed Nuggets, Clippers do the same to short-handed Mavericks

Elsewhere in the Western Conference, the two teams book-ending the Lakers in the West standings entering Friday played each other. Despite playing on the second half of a back-to-back the Warriors didn’t have much trouble with the Nuggets.

A day after beating the Lakers 123-116, the Warriors blew out the Nuggets 118-104. There was no 61-point triple-double from Nikola Jokić this time, nor a return from Jamal Murray. Stephen Curry went off for 36 points, while Brandin Podziemski followed up a career night with 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

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The Warriors are now 20-2 with Curry…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/lakers-jump-to-3rd-in-west-standings-after-win-over-pelicans-nuggets-loss-045512095.html

Author : Jack Baer

Publish date : 2025-04-05 04:55:00

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