Night of hope for the Pelicans. On the same day that the franchise reported the small progress in the rehabilitation of Zion Williamson, who will be the subject of conversation until he puts that battered foot on the court to play, the team responds to flash an even longer smile on the face of the fans. The renewed Kings surrendered in the fourth quarter and the final score of the duel between the two swelled up to 30 points away: 125-95. There was no Spanish presence one more day, since Willy Hernangómez remains these days outside of his coach’s scheme. What there is is tremendous desire for what remains of the regular phase, in the locals to see if their team is capable of closing it with the good streak that they have maintained in recent weeks and in all the others to see if this team will go from being almost evicted to the series for the title.
The battle is on in the Western Conference and these Pelicans are the real threat to the Lakers. The Angelenos have a 27-34 win-loss balance, painting it with bad vibes and worse results. With this victory against the Kings, the New Orleans-based franchise and with the revelry of the Mardi Gras carnival still in the air, 26-36. This battle is going to be telegraphed in the distance during the next matches. The two fight for the tenth place in the West, the last one that gives the option to dispute the play in. Even the giant laureate of Los Angeles can stay out of that.
Far from this struggle are the Blazers. It is the other team that opts for the Lakers’ site, but it starts badly. He was also two wins away from the Angelenos, but on this same day they could not with some Suns in which he adds another casualty: In addition to Chris Paul, due to injury, Devin Booker is also out, isolated by the coronavirus protocol. Not even with those could those from Portland get their hands on the league runner-up. 120-90 with a Cam Johnson in 20 points as the leading scorer.
For what the Pelicans are also more favorites than the Blazers to unseat the Lakers is for having updated the squad last month with McCollum, a piece with whom the scoring task will be more distributed, and having found a balance in the lineup starter putting two greats, Valanciunas and Hayes, with a forward made to put patches, which is still the young Herb Jones. This mixture joins an Ingram that this Wednesday was especially successful: 33 points and with only four failures in the shots.
The success of Fox or Lyles from the outside and having Sabonis, center, playing everything against his compatriot Valanciunas lasted a short time for the Kings. The adjustments in defense overcame this fluidity with which they began the match. Starting in the second quarter, one team, the purple team, was distorted on both sides of the field. In the Pelicans, a surprise guest was also added, a Naji Marshall who went up to 17 points, and there was no compensation. The worst was the sinking image of the Kings between the third and fourth periods, where the locals took a twenty-six point advantage.