Game 72: 05/16/21 Lakers at Pelicans GAME THREAD

[KobeMVP888]

(41-30) LAKERS AT PELICANS (31-40)

Sunday, May 16, 2021, 6:00 PM PDT
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA

Referees: Scott Foster (#48), Derrick Collins (#11), Mousa Dagher (#28)

Replay Center: Scott Wall, Ed Malloy, JT Orr, Phenizee Ransom, Simone Jelks, John Butler, Ashley Moyer-Gleich

Line: Lakers -10.5
O/U: 223.5

National TV: NBA TV
Local TV: Spectrum SportsNet



GAME PREVIEW: LAKERS AT PELICANS: Closing time

by Harrison Faigen, @hmfaigen, silverscreenandroll.com

The Los Angeles Lakers have done nearly everything they could to avoid the play-in tournament over the last calendar week, short of beating the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday in their final game of the year. However, as a result of their close loss to the Portland Trail Blazers a week ago, their fate isn’t just up to them. It also rests in the hands of the Denver Nuggets.

You see, the Blazers are tied with the Lakers in the standings at 41-30, and play the Nuggets in their final game of the season. If the Nuggets win AND the Lakers beat the Pelicans on Sunday, the Lakers would be the sixth seed and face the Nuggets (the No. 3 seed) in the first round. If the Nuggets lose to the Blazers, however, they could guarantee they avoid the Lakers in the first round and ensure they face the Blazers instead.

Or, to put it even more simply, replace “the 3 seed” with “the Lakers” in this tweet and you should have an idea of what tomorrow’s game between Portland and Denver may look like.

Still, for those who do hope the Lakers can avoid the play-in, there is hope. For one thing, the Nuggets appear to not be resting anyone as of Saturday, judging off their injury report, listing only Jamaal Murray, Will Barton and PJ Dozier.

And in terms of what the Lakers have in front of them, this does not appear to be a very threatening Pelicans team because Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Steven Adams are not playing.

But even if the already-eliminated and organically building Pelicans don’t seem particularly motivated to win this game, the Lakers still have to go out there and take it. Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis both said they felt good after Saturday’s win against the Pacers, but that it will be up to the training staff if they play or not on the second night of a back-to-back with the play-in tournament nearly inevitable regardless of this result.

But both James and Davis said they’re not focused on that. They are taking things a game at a time, and just looking at what’s in front of them, not what other teams are doing.

“Let the chips fall where they may, simple as that. I’m ready to go,” James said.

“We’re ready to play whatever game it is,” added Davis. “It’s not going to stop us one way or the other. We’re not going to take our mind off our goal. It’s not going to give us discouragement because we’re not in the top six. We control what we can control, and that’s winning this last game.”

https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/202 ... fs-play-in

[lakerevolution]

“We’re ready to play whatever game it is,” added Davis. “It’s not going to stop us one way or the other. We’re not going to take our mind off our goal. It’s not going to give us discouragement because we’re not in the top six. We control what we can control, and that’s winning this last game.”

Spoken like a true champion. This is as nail-biting a post-season as any TrueFan has seen. I wonder what Kirby, Nuggs, Lew, Frank, Jesus and Seagram are doing now.

[3Peatkb24]

“We’re ready to play whatever game it is,” added Davis. “It’s not going to stop us one way or the other. We’re not going to take our mind off our goal. It’s not going to give us discouragement because we’re not in the top six. We control what we can control, and that’s winning this last game.”

Spoken like a true champion. This is as nail-biting a post-season as any TrueFan has seen. I wonder what Kirby, Nuggs, Lew, Frank, Jesus and Seagram are doing now.

Yeah I still think about some of the people that posted a lot at Hollinger's at ESPN. Hard to believe ESPN shut that Site down after the 2012 season, it doesn't seem like it but that was 9 seasons ago. There we had non-stop action during the playoffs, I would say right around 100 members strong as far as Lakers fans posting on a daily basis. When I joined in February of 2010, I couldn't believe how busy that place was with very knowledgeable posters. I just wanted to fit in . Maybe I brought good luck to the Lakers by joining when I did because we went on to Repeat and beat the Celtics in 7 games in 2010 . I was able to chat with TrueFan Sam for several months and get to know the man who is a legend in my eyes. I am glad he at least got to see the Lakers win it all before he passed in 2010. I loved his knowledge. The main members I became close too during that time were Rev of course, Kenny, Craig, Jesus, Frank - my Crown buddy, Lew, Tate, and towards the end Nuggs. That is a strong bunch! I met Rev on the Laker Game Day basketball threads at the beginning of the 2010 season and he told me about Hollinger's. Rev and I tore the Trolls up on those Game Day threads. I still think about Cyber a lot too as he created our new Lakers Site in 2013 and that all-time draft we all had was epic. Nuggs created this one which just kept everything going, great stuff!

I still laugh when I think about Kenny and DTime going at it and Rev and OkayDokay was hilarious during the 2010 NBA Playoffs. That OkayDokay character hated the Lakers . Yeah great memories.

[3Peatkb24]

Portland is up big on Denver so it looks like we will be in that playin tournament. If so, we will finish as the 7th seed and would play the 8th seeded Warriors. The winner gets the 7th seed, the loser of that game would then play the winner of #9 vs #10 for the 8th seed. Lets say for some crazy reason the Warriors beat us, we can still get the 8th seed if we beat the winner of Memphis/Spurs. I wish we could've avoided this but we will still get in that top 8 unless we lose both playin games.

[3Peatkb24]

Lakers win, see playoff thread