The Lakers rebounded from a loss to New Orleans, Domantas Sabonis notched his 16th triple-double of the season

The Lakers quickly recovered from the Dever defeat and even set a club record for points in a half on their home floor. New Orleans took the organization’s lead from Los Angeles. Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis notched his 16th triple-double of the season, surpassing Nikola Jokic.

The Lakers are just two points behind the club record

In the Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Pelicans (139 to 122), the home team got so fired up that it almost became a franchise-record half. The better-ranked New Orleans Pelicans took it, even though the Lakers were down by 3 points in the first quarter.

But the home team literally exploded in the second quarter. New Orleans scored 51 points. The Lakers took the lead at halftime 87 to 74 and never let the lead go the rest of the game. This is the second best two-quarter scoring performance in Los Angeles history. Only in 1987 were they able to score two more points.

The entire Lakers starting lineup took advantage of this scoring explosion. After the game, every player in the starting five had at least 20 points. Riu Hachimura had 21 points, as did Lebron James, but he also added 14 assists. Anthony Davis contributed 20 points to the Pelicans’ demolition.

Austin Reaves scored 27 points and the home team’s top scorer D’Angelo Russell had an even 30 points. On the New Orleans side, Zion Williamson did his best, but 30 points from him and 22 points from teammate Brandon Ingram were not enough. The Lakers were clearly going for an important 28th win of the season.

Domantas Sabonis outplayed Nikola Jokic

The duel between the Sacramento Kings and the Denver Nuggets (135:106) ended clearly better for the home team. Moreover, the game turned into a Sabonis vs. Jokic duel.

Domantas Sabonis came out clearly better. He scored his 16th triple-double of the season with 17 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. He became the new leader of this statistic in the current season. He has just displaced Jokic, who has 15 of those accomplishments on the season, into second place.

Jokic has also been the leader in this statistic for the past two seasons. In the 2022/23 season, he achieved a triple-double on 19 occasions, while last season he had 29.

Jokic had 23 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in the game. But no one on the Nuggets team supported him significantly. Jamal Murray, another traditional scorer, was held to just 12 points. On the Sacramento side, there were 7 players who broke the 10-point mark, led by Malik Monk with 23 points.

Source: NBA