Eyeing seventh straight win, Lakers face improving Pelicans

WHILE CONTINUING to blow through opponents, even after drastically altering their roster, the Los Angeles Lakers will take a six-game winning streak into a home matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.

The Lakers are coming off consecutive victories against the Los Angeles Clippers in games played without starting forward Rui Hachimura and mostly without starting guard Austin Reaves.

Hachimura is out with a knee injury, while Reaves played nine minutes of the first game against the Clippers with a calf injury. Neither played in Sunday’s 106-102 victory, with Luka Dončić scoring 29 points with nine assists.

“He played fantastic tonight,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said of his trade-deadline addition. “It was that verve and that spirit of competition, but also just something that maybe it’s an inner demon. I don’t know, but it comes out. It’s fantastic for us when it does.”

LeBron James contributed 17 points with his own nine assists for Los Angeles.

While Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent have moved into the Lakers’ starting lineup for now, a major contributor to Sunday’s victory was rookie Dalton Knecht, whose 19 points added up to his highest-scoring game since Jan. 28 and his most points in a victory since scoring 20 on Nov. 27.

The Lakers thought they had acquired big man Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets at the trade deadline for a package that included Knecht. With that trade ultimately voided, Knecht is showing how much value he can provide by staying right where he was all along.

After a 10-game losing streak that ended just before the All-Star break, the Pelicans are much improved by winning five of their past seven games. Their latest triumph was a 128-121 victory on the road over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.

Kelly Olynyk took a turn as scoring leader for New Orleans, contributing a season-high 26 points with nine rebounds. CJ McCollum added 25, Zion Williamson delivered 24 with nine assists and Trey Murphy III finished with 20 points.

Olynyk was added at the deadline from the Toronto Raptors in a return package for Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans seem to be finding a flow with their new look.

“His IQ is extremely high to go along with his size,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said of Olynyk. “It’s rare (to be) 6-11, 7-feet, can shoot the ball, put it on the floor, can post, can rebound, can pass, he’s smart defensively, knows when to switch, good with angles. He’s a great addition to our group.”

Williamson, who has 20 total assists over his last two games, has essentially been a mid-season addition after he returned from a hamstring injury in January. New Orleans has won each of the last four games he has played.

“Zion has been amazing,” Green said last week, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “He gets better as the game progresses. He sees what the defense is doing to him.”

Williamson has averaged 24.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 17 games since his return but has yet to play in a back-to-back. New Orleans’ next set of games on consecutive days is Saturday and Sunday, at Houston and home against the Memphis Grizzlies, respectively. — Reuters