Players Grades: Lakers vs. Pelicans

Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 110-106 play-in win over the Pelicans.

Name a more iconic duo than the Lakers beating the Pelicans in must-win games this season.

First, they embarrassed them in the In-Season Tournament so badly that it became a turning point in the season. Then, in the regular season finale with both teams needing to win to secure their seeds, the Lakers again won convincingly to drop the Pelicans down to the play-in games.

Then, in the biggest of the three do-or-die games of the season, the Lakers again came away victorious. It was the closest of the three games and New Orleans threw a lot at the Lakers late, but they had an answer for everything down the stretch and hit some big shots.

Now, there’s a real chance the Pelicans will go from the No. 6 seed to out of the playoffs because of the Lakers.

This does send the Lakers into the playoffs with a matchup against the Nuggets, which may or may not be a great outcome. But that can be a discussion for a later day.

Now, let’s grade the win. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. “A” grade represents the average performance for that player.

Rui Hachimura

33 minutes, 13 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 5-6 FG, 2-2 3PT, 1-2 FT, -6

An efficient night from Rui offensively. He hit some timely 3-pointers and took advantage of a couple mismatches. Overall, I liked his approach on that end. The Pelicans changed their defensive matchups so Zion Williamson wasn’t matched up on him to fall asleep as he cut backdoor repeatedly.

Defensively, he had his crack at Zion and while he had success against him in previous meetings this year, that was not the case on Tuesday.

Grade: B

LeBron James

41 minutes, 23 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 6-20 FG, 1-5 3PT, 10-10 FT, +11

Objectively, just a significantly worse game for LeBron on Tuesday as opposed to Sunday. I think Zion taking the challenge of defending him benefitted Zion on both ends of the floor and he made things difficult for LeBron at times.

Even still, he did what he normally does in a playoff game and found a way to score. He got to the line 10 times and made them all.

It’s a far cry from a typical LeBron postseason performance, but if you can absorb this and win on the road, you would normally feel very good about your chances in a non-Nuggets series moving forward.

Grade: B-

Anthony Davis

40 minutes, 20 points, 15 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 6-16 FG, 8-10 FT, -5

AD both played, was effective and had a positive impact on this game while also looking clearly still hobbled by his back. Postgame, he admitted he was still experiencing spasms but was confident that the time off before Denver on Saturday.

One of the few players you would think would have an answer for Zion was without any sort of solution. There’s no way the Lakers have any hope if Tuesday’s version of AD plays against Denver, so it’s a good thing they have three-plus days of rest.

Grade: B+

Austin Reaves

36 minutes, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 5-11 FG, 2-5 3PT, 4-4 FT, +4

It wasn’t a great game from Reaves, but he made some big plays down the stretch. His drive and kick to D’Angelo Russell was the biggest play of the night before he knocked down a pair of free throws late.

It wasn’t the performance he had on Sunday, but basically no one was as good as they were on Sunday. Still, it wasn’t bad and he was there when the Lakers needed him.

Grade: B

D’Angelo Russell

37 minutes, 21 points, 6 assists, 1, steal, 1 block, 7-14 FG, 5-11 3PT, +16

Given the context of the game and how badly the Lakers needed his performance, I think there’s a good shout for this being one of the best games of D’Lo’s Lakers career. He was enormous in the first quarter and the only reason they were in the contest early.

He had a couple timely 3-pointers the rest of the way, none bigger than his dagger from the corner late in the fourth.

Side note: him receiving a technical early because he was...in the vicinity of Jose Alvarado as he was receiving a technical (?) was incredibly insane. It was a Scott Foster game, though.

Grade: A+

Spencer Dinwiddie

5 minutes, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 0-3 FG, 0-2 3PT, -9

One of the most interesting developments in this game is that both Dinwiddie and Jaxson were limited to one shift in the first half and did not play in the second half.

Considering how badly that one stretch went for Dinwiddie, I was wholly in support of this.

Grade: Inc

Taurean Prince

22 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 2-7 FG, 2-6 3PT, +1

I was surprised by how few points Prince finished with in this one as it felt like a very impactful game. Prince being the first guy off the bench and the most reliable option is a bit surprising but also a fair place for him to be.

Grade: B+

Jaxson Hayes

8 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1-1 FG, +8

Along with Dinwiddie, Hayes played just one stretch of this game. It was a fine stretch and it also probably won’t be the case moving forward as they will assuredly use two-big lineups against the Nuggets.

Grade: Inc

Gabe Vincent

18 minutes, 9 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3-6 FG, 2-4 3PT, 1-1 FT, +0

Unquestionably, this was the best game of Vincent’s Lakers tenure. Even in brief minutes, he showed exactly why they signed him last offseason.

Offensively, he finally connected on some shots, including a pair of 3-pointers as part of a big second quarter. Defensively, he was terrific and flying all over the court. If this is the baseline for Playoff Vincent, then he’s going to be hugely important against Jamal Murray.

Grade: A-

Darvin Ham

Ham treated this game with the seriousness it required. The rotation was cut all the way down, and he played to win this game without worrying about another play-in game.

He called timeouts quickly. There was no nonsense in the lineups. All in all, a performance that looked similar to last season’s playoffs when he was very good.

Grade: A-

Tuesday’s DNPs: Max Christie, Maxwell Lewis, Cam Reddish

Tuesday’s inactives: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.