The Los Angeles Lakers do not have Kobe Bryant on the floor and that will be the biggest question that follows the team all season and after taking down Dwight Howard and the Rockets, the team is taking on the New Orleans Pelicans for the first time at New Orleans Arena at 8:00 pm and the game will be streaming at 8:00 pm on NBA.com from the League Pass.
The Lakers are 3-3 so far this season and that is more than fine right now in a tough Western conference and also keeping in mind the start the season got off to last year and now the team has some solid vibes going ahead after the last second win over the Houston Rockets and it must have been nice to defeat Howard after he never bought into the Lakers and ditched after one season. Bryant will remain off the floor for the time being and now the team is hoping that Pau Gasol and Steve Nash can handle things and the game is one of the best matchups of the night with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Lakers are scoring well this season, but the defense has not been up to par. The team was totally blown out by the Warriors and now they have to get things together heading into the next stretch of games.
Check here for the Lakers and Pelicans Stream from NBA.com.
The team is coming off of a win over the Rockets and they will play against the Minnesota Timberwolves next at the Staples Center and that will be a nice matchup after having the mini road trip and the team needs to make that place a tough arena to play in, as they will be short all season until Bryant comes back and at this rate, it's hard to see him being the same player, which is a very sad thought as well. The team got the win over the Rockets with a shot by the other Steve in Steve Blake and now the team can get the first game against Howard behind them and now they will face the new look Pelicans, who have a new logo and new roster with names like Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday and they should be better with Anthony Davis developing as well.
The team is coming into the game ranked 12th in points per game with over 100 for the Lakers, but they are allowing 107 per game and that needs to stop now and so far the team has been performing well overall, ranking in the top 10 in both rebounding and assists per game and they are looking to get back over the even record mark on Friday night and they hope they can do it after getting 18 points out of Jodie Meeks on Thursday as well as 12 rebounds from Pau Gasol, who has been playing very well so far to start the season and if he can hold tight for the Lakers, the team should be able to make some noise in the western conference with teams like the Clippers, Thunder, Warriors, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies as well as the San Antonio Spurs and now the Lakers are hoping they can be in that mix as well.
The Lakers come into the game after losing to the Dallas Mavericks before playing the Rockets and before that the team beat the Hawks by two at home and they have played some close games, but the losses have been bad against Dallas and the Warriors, as both of those ended up in bloouts and the team defense needs to get better, although we all know that's not Mike D's strong suit. The Pelicans are coming in scoring as well with 96 points per game and they are also one of the top ranked defenses so far with 95 points per game allowed and it should be a good battle. The Los Angeles Lakers will travel to play the Pelicans at New Orleans Arena and the game will start up at 8 pm from the NBA.
