LOS ANGELES — On paper, Sunday’s contest against the Pelicans looked to be an easy win for the Lakers. New Orleans was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, had seven rotation players out and entered the game a woeful 3-17 on the season.

And overall, it was a relatively easy win for the Lakers, who won 133-121 to extend their winning streak to seven games and counting.

However, it was not pretty.

At the halftime break, the Lakers were rolling, ahead by 20 points, but they fell asleep behind the wheel. The Pelicans shot 63% the rest of the way and kept things competitive enough during the second half, to force Los Angeles to play their standard rotation until the final minutes of the game.

New Orleans feasted inside the paint, scoring 63 points. Once they started eating, they w

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