After sweeping another road trip, the Lakers are now undefeated away from Staples (7-0) and boast the West’s best record at 10-3. Their latest wins (Rockets twice, Thunder) were all blowout wins, directly coinciding with Anthony Davis raising his level defensively and the team, as a group, putting the clamps on their opponents. With the Pelicans in town tonight, the Lakers will look to keep that level going.
New Orleans comes in a bit banged up, already down Lonzo (sore knee) and with Eric Bledsoe questionable. That’s a fair amount of ball handling either missing or potentially not at their best, but the Pelicans are particularly deep in guys who can handle the ball to varying degrees and can compensate accordingly. At the top of that list is former Laker Brandon Ingram, a true rising star and someone who, personally, I am happy to see thriving as an offensive force to be schemed and gameplanned for nightly.
Of course, as much as this game can be billed as Brandon Ingram’s return, the opposing player who is at the top of the marquee remains Zion Williamson. The 2nd year forward is out of the league’s health and safety protcols and has been cleared to play tonight after missing the Pels’ game vs. the Clippers on Wednesday. Zion, though far from a fully formed player, is still averaging 22 points and 8 rebounds a night, with nearly have of those coming on the offensive glass. He is a wrecking ball inside, a foul drawing machine, and is just scratching the surface on what he can be long term.
The other new addition worth mentioning is big man Steven Adams. Observers of the league know all about the big Kiwi and what he brings to the floor each night, but it’s important to note that for this specific team, his screen setting and size as a paint defender and rebounder really help the Pelicans in several facets of the game — particularly in helping to establish their early offense and/or transition game.
In regards to tonight, there’s a ton to look forward to in this matchup, particularly if Bledsoe plays. His matchup with Schroder, especially on the defensive end, would be a good test for Dennis (and his want to create off the dribble) and one that could be worth the price of admission on its own.
Of course, the AD/Zion matchup also has massive potential to excite, particularly after AD has picked up his defensive intensity to the level he has of late. I’m also very intrigued by potential possessions where Bron is guarding Zion — last season when these teams battled, Bron stoned Zion in the post on more than one occassion and forced turnovers while doing it.
Defending Ingram is a different story, though, and I wonder who the Lakers deploy on him as the primary defender and who all gets chances over the course of the full game. Will Bron start on him? Will KCP? I’d imagine both will get their chances, as will Kuz and maybe even THT or Caruso.
None of these matchups are ideal (for Bron it’s less his ability to do it and more the ask of having him chase Ingram all over the floor), but slowing him will be the first priority for the team’s defense in the big picutre. If I had to guess, Bron will get the first chance (just like he did vs. DeRozan in the Spurs games), but as the game goes on the Lakers will throw several bodies at him in the hopes of wearing him down.
Offensively, the Lakers need to simply keep up what they’ve been doing of late. Obviously, they can help themselves tremendously by forcing some turnovers and getting out into transition for easy baskets. But, in the halfcourt, they should make Zion and Ingram defend all over the floor, putting them into screen actions on and off the ball to force them to be decisions makers and remain attentive as the game swirls around them. Also, I would not be surprised to see new Pels coach Stan Van Gundy send some double teams at both Bron and AD, forcing the other Lakers to hit shots and make plays against a scrambling defense.
In the big picture, the Lakers are the more talented team and if they continue to play with focus and defensive intensity they’ll be fine. I think their ability to stretch out Steven Adams with either Gasol or AD and then attack the gaps of the defense to force Zion into help situations at the rim where either scores in the paint or kickouts for open 3’s become commonplace will be difficult for the Pelicans to navigate for a full game.
Where you can watch: 7:00pm start time on Spectrum SportsNet and ESPN.