LOS ANGELES — The Lakers seemed headed for another loss on Wednesday night, having surrendered a 16-point second-half lead and dogged by their typical shooting struggles, when they were given just a drop of grace.
The Lakers were down in a tough way with a three-point deficit, having failed to score a field goal in the final minutes and any points in their previous two possessions. But New Orleans’ Dyson Daniels failed to put the game away, missing a pair of free throws with 1.4 seconds left.
It was an opportunity. And an opportunity is all that Matt Ryan ever needs.
The Lakers’ 15th man – who was making Doordash deliveries and working morning shifts in a cemetery less than two years ago – was an answer for a team that so often has struggled for a 3-pointer. He nailed the game-tying shot from the corner as time expired with Trey Murphy III outstretched in front of him and the Lakers’ bench going bananas behind him.
“I don’t want to sound cocky at all, but like I was able to get my feet down and get a shot off,” a bashful Ryan said later. “So, for any shooter, that’s all you can ask for.”
It set the stage for a triumphant comeback, one that LeBron James (20 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists) and Anthony Davis (20 points, 16 rebounds, four blocked shots) helped captain for an eventual 120-117 win in overtime. But without Ryan catching an inbounds pass from Austin Reaves and firing it up for his third 3-pointer of the night, none of it would be possible.
Ryan’s unlikely role gave the Lakers (2-5) something else that seemed unlikely: Suddenly the team that started 0-5 has won back-to-back games. It was all the more impressive given Davis’ ailing back and James’ heretofore unknown struggles with a non-COVID illness that kept him bedridden for days. The Lakers needed every ounce of effort from every player they got.
“I told the team afterward I think each and every one of them, in the lineup, limited minutes, no minutes,” Ham said, “the way we stood together and the way we supported one another, it showed a lot of grit, a lot of toughness, a lot of character for us not to fold at that moment.”
The Lakers culled a winning effort from multiple sources: They couldn’t have won in overtime without drives from James and Davis, who only shot a combined 17 for 40 from the field. But they also got critical rebounds from Reaves and Patrick Beverley, who were a part of the closing group.
The Lakers badly needed another scorer, and Lonnie Walker IV (a team-best 28 points) excelled – especially late. In one fourth-quarter sequence, he caught a pass from Reaves for a dunk, knocked down a 3-pointer, then took off for a soaring transition dunk punctuated with a loud roar. He also hit a go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime that helped the Lakers take control – along with a transition basket that saw a full-court pass from James down to Davis.
They withstood 27 points from the Pelicans’ Zion Williamson, the thick-set rim-charger, and another 22 points from clutch shooter C.J. McCollum.
Ryan finished the game 4 for 11 with 11 points, firing at will for a team that was just 10 for 36 from behind the arc overall. Ham said Ryan, who started 1 for 6, told him at halftime that he would do better if given another opportunity. So Ham drew him up the shot of his life when it seemed the Pelicans were expecting James or Davis to take the shot.
“Everybody thought the ball would probably go to Bron, Lonnie, whoever,” Davis said. “Trey Murphy got confused. He was talking to the other guy, not sure who was guarding Matt, but he was talking and got confused. They didn’t know what they wanted to do.”
The Lakers started the way they have for most of their games this season: slow on offense. While their defensive assignments and switches looked reasonably sharp early, Davis missed four shots right near the rim before finally flushing a dunk, his hands raised as if to say, “finally.” James also was off-target, which made more sense when he checked out after six minutes and took off his shoe to check a left toe injury which has been listed for a few games.
It was into these doldrums that Russell Westbrook swept in like a storm: He immediately grabbed a tough rebound while tumbling to the court, drove in for a layup, and darted a dime to Walker for a 3-pointer.
As the Lakers’ shooting troubles continued to dog them – they missed six in a row twice in the first half alone – Westbrook’s energy was the one constant. By halftime, he had racked up 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds, leading the team or tied for the team lead in every category. The Lakers outscored the Pelicans by 11 points during his first-half minutes.
James and Davis caught up to his energy, too, and the closing lineup clicked as well as any group has this season, peeling off a 17-2 run to take a 12-point lead by halftime. The last bucket, a 3-pointer by Walker with just half a second remaining, saw the team on a high as they headed to the locker room. James said he and Davis, despite their ailments, wanted to tough it out.
“I knew I wasn’t gonna have everything: all my juice, all my bounce, all my spring,” James said. “But if I’m in the lineup, I’m gonna try to make plays. And was I great tonight? Absolutely not. I was horrible in a lot of things, missed a lot of shots around the rim, missed a lot of miscues on defense, but just tried to get my guys as much energy (as possible) and A.D.’s doing the exact same.”
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But that lead, which grew to as much as 16, disappeared in the third quarter. Pint-sized Pelicans point guard Jose Alvarado (15 points, four assists) was his own kind of force off the bench, helping spark a 15-0 run in the frame. In the minutes when Davis was checked out, Williamson aimed his dribble drives straight through Wenyen Gabriel’s chest, backing down the skinny forward with his bruising shoulders.
James gave Williamson credit afterward: “Zion is on the verge of being great. He’s gonna be great in this league for a long time.”
While Ham made some good calls down the stretch, the game was not without some tough decisions. Westbrook did not close the game or play in overtime, seeming to mute some of his revelry after the win. Kendrick Nunn, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damion Jones didn’t play at all.
As a rookie head coach, Ham has learned the weight of being the final decision-maker, but he’s tried to emphasize that each player has his role, even on nights when he doesn’t play at all.
After his tying shot, Ryan didn’t play a second of overtime. That’s OK by him.
“If I’m in, I got to go hard. If I’m not in, I got to cheer my teammates on,” Ryan said. “So, I’m not in a position to demand 30 minutes a game or 15 shots a game. I take what I get and do the best I can with it.”
MATT RYAN SENDS IT TO OT
OT on the NBA Apphttps://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/NL4kP9l9Nc
— NBA (@NBA) November 3, 2022