The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a disappointing loss on Thursday night, falling 128-125 to the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite tying a season high for made 3-pointers (17), and facing a Pelicans team playing their fifth game in six nights, Luke Walton’s squad faltered down the stretch, failing to score in the last three minutes.
Rookie point guard Lonzo Ball will undoubtedly come under fire as he shot just 1-for-12 from deep, including a number of open misses down the stretch, but Walton was far less happy with another facet of the game.
Following the loss, he pointed to the team’s lack of effort in defending the paint as the primary reason the game was lost, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“The final three minutes, I was fine with.