1) A highly motivated New Orleans team moved a big step closer Friday toward punching its ticket to the 2022 Western Conference play-in tournament, beating the Lakers 114-111 in Los Angeles.
2) New Orleans (34-43) is in ninth place in the West, two games ahead of San Antonio (32-45) and three in front of the Lakers (31-46). The Pelicans’ magic number to earn a play-in berth dropped to two last night. They need any combination of their own wins and Spurs losses adding up to four to seal the No. 9 seed. None of those three teams are in action Saturday, but all have games Sunday (Lakers host Denver; San Antonio hosts Portland; New Orleans visits the Clippers).
3) Watch Friday postgame video reaction from Willie Green, Brandon Ingram and Herbert Jones.
4) Check out photos from Pelicans-Lakers and a lovely evening at Crypto.com Arena.
5) New Orleans will practice Saturday in Los Angeles, preparing for Sunday’s 8:30 p.m. Central tip-off against the Clippers (38-40). The Clips picked up a one-sided Friday win at Milwaukee that put them in excellent shape to secure the West's No. 8 seed. In fact, LAC can guarantee finishing ahead of NOLA in the standings with a Sunday head-to-head victory.