Pelicans comeback falls short as Williamson injured late in loss to Lakers

NEW ORLEANS – Zion Williamson’s first post-season appearance was a microcosm of his career.

He was brilliant in bringing the New Orleans Pelicans back from an 18-point deficit into a fourth-quarter tie, but an injury sidelined him for the final three minutes and the Los Angeles Lakers held off the Pelicans 110-106 in an NBA Play-In Tournament game Tuesday night in the Smoothie King Center.

Williamson had 40 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and made a tying field goal with 3:19 remaining, but six seconds later he went to the bench and then the locker with an undisclosed leg injury.

It’s unclear whether Williamson will be available when the Pelicans, who finished 49-33 in the regular season, try to extend their season in an elimination play-in game at home Friday night against Sacramento, which routed visiting Golden State 118-94 in Tuesday’s late game.

LeBron James, who had a triple-double in the Lakers’ 124-108 victory against the Pelicans two days earlier, which dropped New Orleans into the play-in and the rematch, had 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as L.A. advanced to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed and will face the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets in a first-round series.

D’Angelo Russell added 21 points, former Pelican Anthony Davis had 20 points and 15 rebounds, Austin Reeves scored 16 and Rui Hachimura had 13 in a balanced scoring effort that was barely enough to overcome Williamson’s dominance.

Ironically, Williamson, the No. 1 overall choice in the 2019 draft, was the healthiest he has been while playing in a career-best 70 games this season, but was sidelined once again in the 71st game.

“He was fantastic,” head coach Willie Green said of Williamson, who made 17 of 27 field-goal attempts. “He settled into the game, he continued to attack, he found seams, he rebounded the ball. When he’s attacking like that, he’s a tough match-up for anybody. We have him for a few more minutes, we have a chance to pull this thing out.

“It was tough to see him go down. We’re all praying and hoping that he is OK. He was battling, he was going, and the team was right there with him.”

Williamson’s absence was crippling to a team that couldn’t get consistent scoring from anyone else, including second-leading scorer Brandon Ingram, who sat on the bench for the final 7:38 and finished with 11 points in his second game back after a 12-game absence due to a hyper-extended knee.

Trey Murphy III scored 12 points and Herbert Jones, Jose Alvarado and Larry Nance Jr. scored 10 each with Nance contributing 12 rebounds along with Jonas Valanciunas’ 10.

L.A. twice held an 11-point lead while Williamson was resting at the start of the fourth quarter. Once he re-entered the game he scored three points and Murphy and Alvarado each made a 3-pointer to get New Orleans within 91-89.

Reeves answered with a layup before Alvarado assisted on consecutive dunks by Williamson to even the score at 93. After Williamson tied the score at 95 before exiting, it was tied again at 97 and 99 before Davis’ dunk gave the Lakers the lead with 1:23 left.

Nance had an opportunity to tie the score again, but he made just one of two free throws and Reaves’ 3-pointer pushed the lead to 104-100 with 50 seconds left.

CJ McCollum, who missed 8 of 9 3-pointers and finished with just nine points (11 below his average), made a jumper that cut the lead in half before Davis grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled by Nance and made both free throws for a 106-102 lead with 14.8 seconds left. McCollum made another basket, but Reaves made two free throws and L.A. held on.

The Pelicans’ biggest emphasis between Sunday’s loss and Tuesday’s game was to match the Lakers’ physicality and significantly improve on their 68-42 scoring deficit in the paint. It paid off as they enjoyed a 62-36 advantage in the paint in the rematch.

But they came up short in other keys areas as a the Lakers made five more 3-pointers, 15 more free throws and had seven more points off turnovers.

Reeves made a 3-pointer to start the third-quarter scoring and had four more points as L.A. began the period with a 13-5 run that gave it a 73-55 lead. The Lakers led by 18 one more time before Williamson led a New Orleans comeback.

He finished with 11 points in the period, including three free throws that coupled with a 3-pointer by Murphy enabled the Pelicans to score the final six points and creep within 83-76 at the end of the third quarter.

“We got back in the game by just simply upping our physicality, keeping them out of our paint, and we fell short in the end,” Green said. “That’s the disappointing part, but we’ve got to feel this one tonight and regroup and get ready for another one.”

That other one comes against a Sacramento team that New Orleans is 5-0 against this season, having won four of the meetings by double figures. The average score has been 128-109.

The two meetings in New Orleans, where the Pelicans have lost their last six games, came on November 20 (129-93) and November 22 (117-112). They beat the host Kings 135-123 in the most recent meeting on April 11.

“It’s a do-or-die game,” Murphy said. “They are going to come in with the mentality that it can be their last game of the season so they are going to play as hard as they can. … We have to be prepared for a dog fight.”

The Pelicans got off to a drastically better start on Tuesday than they did on Sunday, when the Lakers made their first five field-goal attempts, took the lead for good after 85 seconds and dashed to a 17-7 advantage.

On Tuesday, L.A. missed its first three shots, Valanciunas made two free throws to give New Orleans the lead after 30 seconds and Williamson followed with a dunk.

On Sunday, the Pelicans were outscored in the paint 20-6 in the first quarter and 50-12 in the first half. On Tuesday they outscored the Lakers 16-4 in the paint as they took a 34-26 lead after the first quarter.

But L.A. dominated the second quarter, briefly falling behind by 10 points before building a 14-point cushion after a 32-8 run. The Lakers made 5 of 8 3-pointers while the Pelicans made missed all seven of their shots from beyond the arc, finishing the period 7 of 23 from the floor.

Williamson provided practically all of New Orleans’ offense in the period, finishing with 10 points, but James had 12 points, three rebounds and three assists as L.A. outscored the Pelicans 34-16 in the period and held a 60-50 halftime lead.