LOS ANGELES — Two other times this season, the Lakers won six games in a row but had their winning streak end there.
The third time was the charm on Tuesday night, as the Lakers rode their dynamic duo of LeBron James and Luka Doncic to a 136-115 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans for their longest winning streak of this season and the past four years.
James finished with 34 points and became the first player to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and playoffs, and Doncic had 30 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who have won 17 of 20 games to move into second place in the Western Conference at 39-21.
“We know what we want to do every night,” James said. “Our coaching staff are putting us in position to succeed and we’re just trying to follow the game plan. And we’ve been dialed in with what our game plan is, each and every night we step on the floor.”
The Lakers again played without two of their top four scorers in Austin Reaves (strained right calf) and Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy), but James and Doncic carried the offensive load.
Already the league’s all-time leading scorer and one point from his latest milestone to begin the night, James eclipsed the 50,000-point threshold with a 3-pointer at the 8:34 mark of the first quarter. He finished 10 for 18 from the field (5 for 10 from 3-point range) to go with eight rebounds, six assists and a pair of blocked shots.
“I mean, that’s a lot of points,” James said. “Obviously the first thing that comes to my mind is where I’m from and just picking up the game when I was a little kid and just having a love for the sport and hoping that some day I would be able to play at the highest level. And I’ve been able to do that and really enjoy it, really enjoy my career. So, it’s definitely an honor. It’s pretty cool to see that.”
Doncic, appropriately, got the assist on James’ milestone basket.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” Doncic said. “Watching him do this stuff at this age, it’s just unbelievable like 50k points … it’s, I can’t even explain how insane that is. He might get to 70k, you never know.”
Doncic shot 9 for 19 overall (6 for 13 from behind the arc) and scored 17 of his points during the first quarter, making 3-pointers on three straight possessions and briefly skipping after each one. He’s scored at least 29 points and made at least three 3-pointers in each of the last three games.
“It’s great moments,” said Doncic, whose assist total tied his season high. “I obviously got to work on my celebration because I don’t know what to do. I just start skipping, I don’t know.
“But those moments, those are the greatest moments I can feel in basketball. You feel good and there’s nothing better than that.”
The Lakers’ stars picked apart the Pelicans all night as they continue to build chemistry in their blossoming partnership.
“In order for us to be the team ultimately we need to be, the ball needs to be in Luka’s hands,” James said. “And then when Luka sits down, the ball can be in my hands or be AR’s hands when he gets back. But I’m very comfortable playing off the ball and finding my spots, running the floor, getting the outlet pass from Luka, being on the backside of the defense if he’s either being blitzed in pick-and-rolls or switched in pick-and-rolls. He attracts so many eyes and bodies.
“I’ve been very blessed to be able to be adaptable to whatever team I’ve been on throughout my career, to be able to change. And this is another instance and I’m looking forward to that.”
Zion Williamson had 37 points on 17-for-23 shooting, six assists and four rebounds to pace the Pelicans (17-45).
“Zion obviously presents a lot of problems,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “He was moving. I thought a big thing for us as we have gone through this season is, as of late, game plans have worked. So there’s been no consternation. We made three different adjustments on him, didn’t work. He was that good.
“We didn’t get discouraged. It didn’t allow us to get frustrated offensively. It didn’t take us out of our execution. We stayed very connected. Even with some turnovers, I just thought our approach to the game was really good.”
New Orleans sent double-teams and help toward Doncic more frequently after his explosive first quarter.
Jaxson Hayes benefitted from the Pelicans’ defensive strategy, finishing with a season-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. He scored 15 points in the second quarter, helping the Lakers take a 69-59 lead by halftime.
“Jaxson, again, organization, his spacing, being disciplined,” Redick said. “When we were setting ball screens with him, I thought other than two possessions in the first half, we had the right spacing. When we weren’t setting ball screens with him, he was in the dunker [spot] and he was opposite the ball and that led to some dunks. Jaxson played really well.”
The Lakers attempted a season-high 52 3-point shots, knocking down 19 of them (36.5%).
Thirty-one of their first 42 field goal attempts were from behind the arc.
“Going into this game, we knew that we were gonna be able to take a ton of 3s,” Redick said. “They really look to pack the paint. We knew they were going to mix things up with Bron and Luka. We felt like if we were disciplined with our spacing and made the right passes … we felt like we were going to launch and we did.”
The Lakers finished with 43 bench points, which was aided by both teams removing their main rotation players with more than four minutes left and the Lakers leading 125-102.
Dalton Knecht scored 13 points, while Jarred Vanderbilt and Shake Milton each scored 12. Bronny James played the final 4:01, scoring two points in his first NBA action since Feb. 12.
The Lakers close their six-game homestand on Thursday night against the New York Knicks.