Beyond the Brow: Lakers can learn from Pelicans' fighting spirit
LOS ANGELES - With an anxious Staples Center crowd holding its breath, LeBron James collected a semi-loose ball, faded to the corner, elevated off one leg, and plunged a dagger into the heart of a New Orleans Pelicans team that has been broken too many times to count this season.
The fact that Wednesday's game between the Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers even reached such a climactic point, however, tells you something about both teams.
New Orleans' season was assumed to be over the second Anthony Davis' trade request went public. In the weeks since, the disgruntled All-Star has been on a minutes restriction - he logged 21 minutes Wednesday and didn't return after exiting the contest with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter.
And yet, there were the Pelicans, absorbing haymaker after haymaker on the road against the Lakers, including a third-quarter sequence of four consecutive dunks that James admitted felt bigger than the eight points reflected on the scoreboard.
New Orleans had no business being in a one-possession game in the final minute, but it's that type of resiliency the Pelicans have taken pride in during a tumultuous second half of the season.
"That's just our makeup, that's our personality, that's our character," Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday told theScore following the loss. "We're just the type to fight hard and give ourselves a chance to win every game, no matter who's on the court."
If the Pelicans are an undermanned team playing for each other, the Lakers are a study in contrast. They are a talented yet disjointed, lackadaisical team which still hasn't recovered from the Davis-related trade chatter that linked every one of its young players to New Orleans before the Feb. 7 deadline passed without incident.
The roster construction around James was always suspect, at best, and the lengthy absences of the King, Rajon Rondo, and Lonzo Ball have hurt. But the Lakers have no business being under .500 and three games out of a playoff spot entering March - they're better than that.
Wednesday's win was a step in the right direction, with both James and head coach Luke Walton saying the team needs to stay together through adversity, and Rondo even mentioning that the Lakers have made a point to engage in more positive physical contact with each other during games.
These are the necessary baby steps for a team that had fractured as recently as Saturday, when a Davis-less Pelicans team ran them off the court in New Orleans.
On Wednesday, the Lakers played with a vigor rarely seen this season, particularly on the defensive end.
"It was good to see that type of fight and passion. It's a lot of fun when your guys are playing like that," Walton said postgame of L.A.'s newfound defensive focus, though his players understand they need to make a habit of it.
"One game doesn't matter. You've got to do it multiple games in a row," Kyle Kuzma told reporters after a 22-point effort. "I think sometimes we have great energy, sometimes we don't. It's all about consistency with us; playing hard, bringing great energy, positivity, consistent work habits, consistent focus."
Even on a night of marked by improvement, the Lakers still needed a moment of brilliance from James to stave off the feisty Pelicans.
"When you're playing against the best player in basketball, at some stage, he's going to do something to help his team get over the hump," Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry said. "That's what he did with that shot in the corner."
James said before the game that the Lakers like their chances in the Western Conference right now, which is easier to say and genuinely feel in the face of adversity when your team is led by a singular talent like LeBron.
The Pelicans, with Davis nearly out of the picture, no longer have such a luxury, but they do have a resilient makeup that James' Lakers could use.
The Lakers may not be able to steal Davis from the Pelicans at the moment, but they can take something away from the manner in which New Orleans pridefully fought them to the end.