Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 105-84 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans

The good news from the Lakers’ postgame locker room Tuesday night was that shooting guard Nick Young’s disposition appeared to be fairly sunny and he didn’t seem excessively concerned about his Achilles injury.

He also was walking on his right foot with what appeared to be a normal gait. The Lakers didn’t give him crutches, and he left the arena wearing a walking boot, but unassisted.

All these are good signs that indicate Young didn’t rupture the tendon completely. Rather, the Lakers described the injury as a strained right Achilles tendon. That often means a player has a partial tear, and it’s an injury that can heal in a few weeks without surgery.

We’ll know more soon. Young is having an MRI on Wednesday morning in Chicago, and the results should reveal the extent of the injury, which, in turn, will reveal recovery time.

Here are five takeaways from the 105-88 loss to New Orleans.

1. Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry was asked after the game whether he left Anthony Davis in so Davis could get to 40 points. The question offended Gentry. But why Davis was still in a 20-point game late in the fourth quarter? The answer could lie in the Pelicans’ lack of options as much as in any competitive desire to get Davis to 40 points. Regardless, he scored 41 points and became the third player this season to drop 40 on the Lakers, joining Andrew Wiggins in Minnesota and Chicago’s Jimmy Butler.

2. The Lakers’ rotation usually means that their players aren’t getting overloaded with minutes anyway, but they’ll keep an extra eye on that during this trip. Four games in five days could be tough on players’ bodies. Lakers Coach Luke Walton said he’ll pay close attention to the older players’ minutes.

3. Further complicating the minutes issue is the situation at guard. If Young misses a significant number of games, that would leave the Lakers without either starting guard for at least a few games. It would make it difficult for Walton to keep his favored second unit, which includes guards Jordan Clarkson and Lou Williams, intact. It happened last week when Russell (left knee) and Young (sprained toe) missed the post-Thanksgiving game against the Warriors. Walton said the staff considered a starting lineup that included Jose Calderon and Marcelo Huertas, but ultimately he vetoed it.

4. Thomas Robinson is making the most of his limited minutes. He started, played 15 minutes against the Hawks with Julius Randle out and nearly notched a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds. On Tuesday night, Robinson played almost 10 minutes and had six points and two rebounds.

5. Randle said he came out of Tuesday night’s game well. His hip pointer injury included a bone bruise and a muscle issue that was causing a sharp pain and spasms when he moved a certain way. It’s something the Lakers will monitor, though, during this crunch of games.

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