Brandon Ingram scored 35 points and led a fourth-quarter surge as the host New Orleans Pelicans ended a 10-game losing streak by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 131-126 on Saturday.
CJ McCollum added 23 points, Trey Murphy III scored 21, Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 14 rebounds, Jose Alvarado scored 18 points and Larry Nance Jr. had 10 for the Pelicans.
LeBron James finished with 27 points to pull within 35 points of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring record, and Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 34 points and 14 rebounds. Russell Westbrook scored 15 points, Troy Brown Jr. added 13 and Lonnie Walker IV had 11.
The Lakers took their biggest lead of the game when they went up 12 early in the third quarter, but Valanciunas had three baskets to help the Pelicans pull within 95-92.
Los Angeles rebuilt the lead to eight, but McCollum made a basket and a steal and Alvarado hit a 3-pointer, all in the final six seconds, as New Orleans got within 106-103 at the end of the third quarter.
Murphy made back-to-back 3-pointers as the Pelicans took a 114-108 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles tied the score three times before Ingram scored on a drive to give New Orleans the lead for good. He added two free throws and another jumper for a 129-123 lead with 1:02 left.
The Lakers never trailed in the first quarter as Ingram missed nearly all of the period after committing two fouls barely a minute into the game.
Los Angeles took a 24-17 lead on a short hook shot by Davis, but the Pelicans pulled even on back-to-back layups by Murphy. Walker’s layup gave the Lakers a 32-30 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Nance scored the first four points of the second quarter to give New Orleans its only lead of the half.
Westbrook’s 3-pointer put Los Angeles back on the top and the Pelicans got within one point three more times before the break.
But the Lakers extended the lead to 11 three times, the final one being a 72-61 halftime edge.
–Field Level Media
