The Lakers started off their first game of the road trip in New Orleans to face off against Anthony Davis and the Pelicans.
Last time the Lakers played the Pelicans they blew them out by over 30 points and tonight the Pelicans returned the favor. The game started off in a bad way with the Pelicans scoring almost 35 points in the first quarter and the Lakers weren’t exactly scoring that much.
This continued as the Lakers couldn’t hit any shot’s or make their free throws with the Pelicans winning 105-88.
Injuries are the worst
The Lakers started off the game with Julius Randle starting for the first time in a week, and without D’Angelo Russell who will be out for at least one more week.
To make matters worse Nick Young had a non-contact leg injury in the first minute of the game. He couldn’t walk on his own and dread spread among Laker fans.
Nick Young has a right Achilles' tendon strain. He’s out for tonight’s game and will undergo an MRI tomorrow in Chicago.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 30, 2016
According to Mike Trudell it is a Achilles Tendon Strain, so hopefully the MRI doesn’t show anything worse. Either way the Lakers looked dreadful tonight and certainly missed Young’s energy, Leadership, and most of all his scoring. Injuries are the worst.
UPDATE: Swaggy was seen walking around the locker room following the game. An MRI, though, is still scheduled to see the full extent of the injury.
Randle is still good
Randle missed 3 straight games due to a hip pointer injury, but today on his 22nd birthday he got the go ahead to start.
He was playing well before the injury and tonight, despite not looking fully healthy, he put up a line of 12/10/3 shooting a nice 6-9. He was physical and even had a huge dunk tonight. He may not be playing 100% but he is still a good player and showed that tonight.
The Lakers are inconsistent
The Young Laker squad has been inconsistent this year despite stellar overall play. That can be attributed to them being such a young team, but either way it happens.
The past few games have shown that and especially tonight. Without D’Angelo Russell the Lakers can’t afford to be inconsistent or else they won’t win as many games.
This Pelicans game shows that inconsistency with the Lakers shooting only 16% on three pointers and only 50% on free throws. They had a lot of open shots and couldn’t make them. If they want to win without Russell they’ll need to be more consistent
Fan Takeaways
no more injuries…
— Jingying Fu (@FJY24) November 30, 2016
My heart can’t take anymore injuries.
bye bye Marcelo
— LSU FOOTBALL SZN(5-1) (@BauderJoel) November 30, 2016
Is he going away to the Hall of fame? Because the #Catalyst deserves that.
sometimes shots don't go in
— Christopher stever (@cmstever10) November 30, 2016
Indeed. The Lakers shot 16% on three pointers so sometimes the shots do not go in.