New Orleans Pelicans vs Los Angeles Lakers (04/04): Luka Doncic led the purple and gold to 124-108 victory

The Los Angeles Lakers have secured a much-needed 124-108 win against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Crypto.com Arena. Luka Doncic came back to his stunning performance, adding 35 to the total, while Austin Reaves and LeBron James followed with 30 and 27 points, respectively. Jose Alvarado scored a team-high 27 points for the Pelicans, but the team was far from catching up to the Lakers' dominant performance on their home ground.

LeBron James put up a strong performance, scoring 27 points in just under 33 minutes of play. He shot 9-for-17 from the field, including 2-for-7 from three. LeBron also made 7 of his 8 free throws and dished out 8 assists. Though he didn’t grab any rebounds, he added 2 steals and kept his turnovers low with just one. His +7 rating reflected the impact he had while on the floor.

Luka Doncic led all scorers with 35 points in under 36 minutes. He hit 10 of his 21 shot attempts, including 4 three-pointers on 10 tries. He was perfect from the free-throw line, going 11-for-11. Doncic added 6 assists and 6 rebounds to his stat line and had a +12 while on the court. Despite a couple of turnovers, he controlled the pace and made clutch plays throughout the game.

Austin Reaves also delivered an impressive outing, scoring 30 points on an efficient 8-for-13 shooting. He hit 6 of his 9 three-point attempts and went 8-for-9 from the foul line. Reaves added 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal with only one turnover, posting a game-high +17. His shooting helped stretch the floor and gave the offense a much-needed spark.

Jaxson Hayes contributed with a double-digit rebound effort, pulling down 12 boards—11 of which were defensive. He scored 6 points, blocked 2 shots, and was solid inside. Off the bench, Dalton Knecht added 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including two threes. Overall, the team shot 51.9% from the field and knocked down 16 threes, finishing with 124 points.
For the Pelicans, Jose Alvarado stood out as the most productive player for his team, dropping 27 points in just over 28 minutes. He shot 10-of-21 from the floor and hit 6 of his 10 shots from deep. Alvarado also added 5 assists and 4 rebounds, but his 4 turnovers slightly hurt the flow.

Yves Missi brought solid presence in the paint, shooting 62.5% from the field and grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds. He also chipped in 13 points, along with a block and a steal.
Karlo Matkovic impressed in limited minutes, scoring 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbing 6 rebounds.
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Kelly Olynyk added 12 points and 3 rebounds, while Keion Brooks Jr. finished with 9 points. Bruce Brown, however, struggled, going 0-for-5 from the field and scoring just 1 point. The team as a whole shot 48.8% from the field and hit 14 threes, but turnovers and free throw misses held them back.