Those from New Orleans enter the Smoothie King Center looking to continue adding victories to continue their adventure this season and get a pass to the 2024 NBA Playoffs. On the other hand, the Lakers arrive staying in the fight for a place to the NBA postseason and finished eighth in the Western Conference. This is why a very interesting confrontation is expected between both teams and this has caught the attention of fans as it is a duel between two good teams that have faced each other on different occasions and it was even a semifinal duel of the NBA In -Season Tournament, in addition, both know that a victory against their rival is of utmost importance to get into the fight for the title. This game features several stars of the league such as LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, CJ McCollum, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and more. The Pelicans arrive with a record of 49 wins and 33 losses, while the Lakers finished with a record of 47 wins and 35 losses.
Players to follow?
The players to watch are Zion Williamson of the Pelicans and LeBron James of the Lakers.
Year 21 for the top figure of the Los Angeles Lakers, who will seek to get the Los Angeles team to the Playoffs again. The Lakers star finished the regular season in a great moment, leading the team on offense with an average of 30.3 points, 8.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game. Although LeBron had a great season and was among the MVP candidates, this could not reflect his great year for the Los Angeles team. The physical condition of the team was one of the big problems and this led the board to rejuvenate the squad around its best player. Lebron's connection with Austin Reaves and the health of Anthony Davis will be critical to this team's aspirations. The King is one of the candidates for the MVP of the regular season, the doubts focus more on what the Lakers can do.
On the other hand, Zion Williamson, the Pelicans' guard, is being the team's offensive leader with an average of 23.0 points, 5.0 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game. Ingram is coming off a difficult season, he only participated in 69 of the 82 regular season games and showed a better level than in previous years by being able to play more in the season. So his objective will be to become the leader of the team along with CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram, they hope to get a place in the Play-offs and be a difficult opponent from a distance and in the paint. With the incorporation of CJ McCollum, the New Orleans guard returned to his usual position and we will see more and more of him, Williamson will seek to be one of the candidates for the MVP of the 2023-2024 season.
Other important figures in this game are Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum for the Pelicans, as well as D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Davis for LA.
This will be the sixth time that both teams face each other this season, the Lakers have won the last 3 times for a total of 4 victories against the New Orleans team and could win again and break the positive streak of the Pelicans. Without a doubt, it is a very interesting game to follow closely because they could meet again in a conference final, if both qualify.
- Where and what time is the game?
The game will take place at the Smoothie King Center located in the city of New Orleans, this will be a regular season duel between two teams seeking to continue their path within the 2023-2024 NBA in the Eastern Conference. This stadium has capacity for 17,800 fans and was inaugurated in 1999.
The duel between Pelicans and Lakers will take place on Tuesday, April 16 with the following times in different countries:
- 5:30 p.m. in Mexico
- 7:30 p.m. in the United States (ET)
- 6:30 p.m. in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru
- 7:30 p.m. in Bolivia and Venezuela
- 8:30 p.m. in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.
- 00:30 hours in Spain
The Pelicans are the big favorite as they have a squad in good shape and better options in the rotation, compared to the Los Angeles squad. However, the Lakers arrive looking to continue showing improvements, with more postseason experience and want to get into the playoffs no matter what, which can be important and they will want to achieve it to improve in the competition.
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