Lakers News: Darvin Ham Details How LA Survived Pesky Pelicans In Play-In
The Los Angeles Lakers are officially in the playoffs after defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 in their 7-8 play-in tournament matchup on Tuesday. It was a hard-fought game, with the Lakers trailing 34-26 after the first quarter. They quickly battled back in the second quarter, outscoring the Pelicans 34-16, which would allow the Lakers to hold onto the lead the rest of the game.
The Lakers had to also outlast the Pelicans despite star power forward Zion Williamson going off for a phenomenal game, scoring 40 points and notching 11 rebounds and five assists. Williamson had to exit the game early due to a left hamstring injury, but still gave the Lakers a major challenge to come out with the win.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham credited the team's grit for their ability to pull out the win, despite the late-game fight from the Pelicans.
“Just the grit, the grit of our group,” Ham said, via Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. “[We] had a little bit of a cushion and they start making ... what we thought they were going to do, they did. They made their run. Threw some heavy blows at us. They kept swinging. We kept swinging back. Meet force with force.”
The Lakers saw three players score at least 20 points as they pushed past the Pelicans. Anthony Davis was a key example of this grit, playing through an injury while notching 20 points and 15 rebounds. LeBron James added 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists and D'Angelo Russell went for 21 points and six assists.
This group will need to carry over their gritty ways to Saturday when they begin the first round of the playoffs against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
