Lakers earn NBA Cup win, hand Pelicans 4th straight loss

Luka Doncic scored 24 points with 12 assists and Austin Reaves added 31 points with seven assists as the Los Angeles Lakers earned a 118-104 road victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in NBA Cup play.

Deandre Ayton added 20 points with 16 rebounds, Rui Hachimura had 14 points and Marcus Smart added 13 as the Lakers improved to 2-2 on a five-game road trip that followed a five-game winning streak.

Los Angeles is 9-4 without LeBron James (sciatica), who could make his season debut next week.

Trey Murphy III scored 35 points, Jeremiah Fears had 19 and Herbert Jones added 13 for the Pelicans, who saw their losing streak extend to four games. New Orleans is 0-2 to start a five-game homestand and fell to 1-4 in its own building.

The Pelicans were without Zion Williamson (hamstring) and Jordan Poole (quad), while Dejounte Murray (Achilles) is out until at least January.

The Lakers improved to 2-0 in NBA Cup West Group B, while the Pelicans fell to 0-2.

After their worst loss of the season, when they were dominated 121-92 on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, the Lakers went on the attack early by taking a 28-13 lead with 3:54 remaining in the first quarter on a 3-pointer from Dalton Knecht.

Los Angeles led 35-25 through one quarter before the Pelicans closed to within 37-35 with just under nine minutes remaining before halftime.

The Lakers led 65-52 at the half by shooting 57.5% from the floor, while Doncic had 20 points, one more than he had over the entire game against the Thunder. Murphy led the Pelicans with 22 points in the opening half.

Los Angeles went up by as many as 22 points in the third quarter and went into the final period with a 95-77 lead.

New Orleans got within single digits at 96-88 after a 3-pointer from Saddiq Bey with 8:23 remaining. The Pelicans were within 105-96 with 5:02 left but did not score for more than two minutes as the Lakers put the game away.

--Field Level Media