Lakers continue to roll, defeat host Pelicans
NEW ORLEANS ¬-- Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points, D'Angelo Russell had 22 and Lou Williams, the NBA's leading scorer off the bench, added 21 points to power the Los Angeles Lakers to a 126-99 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The Pelicans, who fell to 1-9, averted an even worse fate when Anthony Davis returned to the court in the third quarter after appearing to have suffered a lower-back injury.
Davis had scored 13 consecutive points to keep the Pelicans within striking distance, and his floating layup with 8:13 left in the third quarter cut the Lakers' lead to 63-62.
But at the end of the play, Davis landed awkwardly, and he crumpled to the court holding his lower right back. Davis went immediately to the locker room, and while he was off the court, the Lakers outscored the Pelicans 16-4 to take a 79-64 lead.
Davis came back six minutes later, but his game-high 34 points were not enough. Rookie guard Buddy Hield added 18 for New Orleans.
The Lakers, who improved to 6-4, also got 15 from Nick Young. The Lakers made 16-of-30 from 3-point range.
Davis scored 13 of his 21 first-half points in the second quarter, leading the Pelicans to a 56-55 halftime lead.
The point total allowed Davis to become the ninth player in NBA history to score 300 points and grab 100 rebounds in the first 10 games. Davis also joined David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal as the only players in the NBA history to average 30 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in his first 10 games.
The Lakers, who lead the NBA in bench scoring, got 38 of their 55 first-half points from their reserves, led by Jordan Clarkson with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Rookie forward Brandon Ingram added nine points.
Davis started slowly, missing seven of his first 10 shots, but he made his next five, most on strong post-up moves in the lane. Buddy Hield gave the Pelicans the halftime lead by hitting a 3-pointer that just beat the buzzer.
NOTES: The Pelicans have yet to confirm the imminent return of PG Jrue Holiday, who has been with his wife for the last two months while she gave birth to their first child and then had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. The Vertical reported Holiday would return next week. "Everybody wonders about Jrue," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. "We're hoping, but he'll let us know the definite date that he'll be back, and we'll be fine with that." ... Gentry said he was pleased with F Solomon Hill's performance off the bench in the Pelicans' first victory of the season on Thursday night at Milwaukee. "If we can get 10 (points), five rebounds and five assists from him every night we would be ecstatic," Gentry said. ... Los Angeles rookie F Brandon Ingram closed out the Lakers' 101-91 victory at Sacramento. "We have that trust in him that we know he's going to be a huge part of our future," Lakers coach Luke Walton said.