After dropping a close one to Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks in their Las Vegas Summer League opener, the Los Angeles Lakers were back in action on Saturday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.
It was again a lively crowd at Thomas & Mack Center to support the Lakers, and they came away with a win this time, beating the Pelicans, 94-81, to improve to 1-1 in Las Vegas.
LeBron James was in the building to support the Lakers and his son Bronny James, but L.A. got off to a rough start as the Pelicans jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Bronny finally got the Lakers one the board with a bucket to settle his team in as they then went on a 12-3 run to tie it.
Arthur Kaluma, who had played sparing minutes so far this summer, came in and made an immediate impact in this one with eight points in the first quarter to give the Lakers a 22-19 lead.
The Lakers were locked in defensively to start the second with Darius Bazley and Christian Koloko protecting the paint. Cole Swider and DJ Steward then got going offensively to extend the lead to nine.
New Orleans closed the first half strong, but the Lakers still took a 40-36 lead into the locker room.
Koloko’s impressive two-way play continued into the second half, although the Lakers’ offense otherwise slowed down, preventing them from building the lead back up.
They were able to maintain their advantage though as Bazley had a nice rebound and then took it the length of the floor for a dunk to give L.A. a 64-59 lead at the end of the third quarter. The Lakers added two points in the final seconds after a review determined that RJ Davis got fouled, sending him to the line.
Bronny was quiet offensively for most of the night but started to get going early in the fourth quarter with a triple. The Lakers began to pull away from there as Bazley had a couple of impressive buckets and then Steward hit another 3.
Swider continued his hot shooting night to extend the lead to double digits for the first time. The Lakers went on to cruise to the victory from there, picking up their first win in Las Vegas.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will next take the court on Monday night when they face the L.A. Clippers at 7:30 p.m. PT. They will then play the Boston Celtics on Thursday at 6 p.m. PT.
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