NBA: Pelicans Crush Lakers, 139-117, Isaiah Thomas, Rajon Rondo, Coach Luke Walton Ejected
The New Orleans Pelicans extended their winning run to three games after a 139-117 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers at the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday. The game was marred by a series of ejections that include those of Isaiah Thomas, Rajon Rondo, and Lakers head coach Luke Walton.
New Orleans was spearheaded by Anthony Davis, who pulled off another monster performance of 42 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists, and 2 blocks in 33 minutes. Jrue Holiday backed him up with 24 points, 11 assists, 4 steals, and 4 boards while Darius Miller and Nikola Mirotic contributed 19 and 16 points respectively coming off the bench.
Three Lakers players scored more than 20 points with Kyle Kuzma leading the charge with 23 points and 5 rebounds in another super-sub role. Starters Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle netted 21 and 20 points respectively while also combining for 7 boards and 8 assists. Starting point guard Josh Hart had 15 and 6 rebounds as the fourth Laker in double figures.
The Pelicans raced to a 15-2 run to start the first quarter with 7 points from Holiday. Head coach Alvin Gentry’s side never looked back since then, working out a 46-point opening period, which is the record for “most points scored in any quarter” in franchise history, as per Lakers Nation.
Lakers guard Thomas, who replaced Kentavious Caldwell-Pope halfway through the first period, and his Pelicans counterpart, Rajon Rondo, were both ejected in the 33-second mark of the opening quarter after receiving two double-technicals for excessive tangling and verbal altercation.
Thomas, who is playing only his second game for the Lakers after getting traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers at the deadline, suited up for only five minutes, scoring 3 points with 2 assists and a rebound. Rondo received his first ejection this season and had 4 points, 5 assists, and three boards in eight minutes.
Last month Rondo had some things to say about IT wanting a tribute video from the Celtics..
Today they got into it and were ejected ? pic.twitter.com/nCw0KpEkXo
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 15, 2018
Both Thomas and Rondo are former Boston Celtics point guards and were involved in a controversy last month when the latter “slammed the idea of Boston showing a video tribute” for Thomas, via NBC Sports‘ Dan Feldman.
Later in the closing moments of the second quarter, Walton, who earlier zealously pleaded Thomas’ case with the referees, was also ejected. The second-year head coach was in the officials’ face once again after arguing a foul call on Kuzma’s attempted steal on Davis. Assistant coach Brian Shaw replaced Walton at the helm for the Lakers in the second half.
With the win, the Pelicans improved their record to 31-26 while the Lakers dropped to 23-33 with their second consecutive loss. New Orleans will next face the Miami Heat on February 23 also at their home floor while Los Angeles is scheduled to meet the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow night at the Target Center.
