After dropping an important game against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, the Lakers are back at it on Friday when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans.

L.A. is looking to sweep the season series against the Pels as they aim to get back on the winning column.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Pelicans

When: 7:30 PDT, Apr 4

Where: Crypto.com Arena

Watch: Spectrum SportsNet

Since the Lakers lost to the Warriors on Thursday, this match against the Pelicans becomes 10 times more important than it was supposed to be. Los Angeles is currently back in the fourth spot in the extremely competitive Western Conference standings and they can’t afford to slip anymore given their tough schedule.

Fortunately for the purple and gold, they get a break on Friday with Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum not playing for the Pels. That’s not to say that this game is going to be easy for the Lakers because, after all, playing against reserves or players who are fighting for contracts can be as dangerous.

Still, there is no way the Lakers can give this one away.

Perhaps what would be ideal to see is a solid bounceback game from, frankly, everyone. L.A. shot so poorly in the first half on Thursday and that’s where they pretty much lost the game. It seems the scouting report of the Lakers’ opponents as of late has been to clogg the paint and dare them to shoot and we’ve seen what can happen when Los Angeles can and can’t capitalize on that.

That’s why it would be nice to see the Lakers’ offense regroup in this one, especially against the Pelicans atrocious defense. LA’s only disadvantage is the fact that they’re playing on a back-to-back, but they should have enough firepower to combat that.

The question is who will step up for this one? It would be nice to see a classic Luka Dončić game to ease our concerns about his elbow injury and a stronger showing from the bench, who combined for just seven points against the Warriors.

Ultimately, this game is a must-win, so it doesn’t matter how they get that result. What also matters is for the Lakers to get their rhythm back, learn from their mistakes on Thursday night, play collectively as a unit and get ready to go on one last run before the playoffs commence.

Let’s see if they can start doing that on Friday against the Pelicans.

Notes and Updates

• Since the Lakers are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, no injury report has been issued yet for this one. So for now, expect only Maxi Kleber (right foot surgery recovery) to be out.
• As for the Pels, aside from Williamson (low back bone contusion) and McCollum (right foot bone contusion), Brandon Boston (left ankle stress reaction), Jordan Hawkins (lumbar spine), Herbert Jones (right shoulder torn rotator cuff), Trey Murphy III (right shoulder torn labrum) and Dejounte Murray (right Achilles rapture) are out. So pretty much their whole roster.
• We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.