Luka Doncic scored 35 points and Austin Reaves added 30 when Los Angeles Lakers helped his opportunities for a top-four goal in the Western Conference with a victory 124-108 over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Lebron James produced 27 points and eight assists and Jaxson Hayes had 12 returns with six points when the Lakers won before a back-to-back road set against first place Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday and Tuesday.
Lakers (47-30) pulled half a game before fourth place Denver Nuggets when Reaves went 6 out of 9 from 3-point intervals and set a franchise record with 15 made 3-points in consecutive games.
Jose Alvarado scored 27 points and Karlo Matkovic added 15 for the Pelicans (21-56), which ends the season without Zion Wiliamson (back) and CJ McCollum (foot). Yves Missi had 13 points and 11 returns for New Orleans, who have only three wins in the last 11 games and have not won competitions in a row since the end of February.
Los Angeles took a lead of 93-84 into the fourth quarter and was up 104-95 before going on a 6-2 run to take a 13-point lead with 5:55 left on an arrangement from James.
Lakers mainly sealed the victory when Reaves threw a long-distance pass at James for an alley-oop-can with 4:09 left for a lead of 114-99. James, who suffered a right thumb injury during the first half, received 14 points during the fourth quarter after going speechless in the third.
Pelicans started quickly and led 30-25 after a block. New Orleans kept a seven-point advantage early in the second before the Lakers took the lead for good at 45-44 with 6:43 left in half on a Jordan Goodwin organization.
Los Angeles led 62-53 at half time, with James and Doncic who each scored 13 points before the break. Alvarado had 18 for the Pelicans.
Lakers finished with a 3-0 record against the Pelicans this season.
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