Jordan Clarkson on what went wrong for the Lakers against the Pelicans: ‘I shot like butt’

The Los Angeles Lakers got blown out 105-88 by the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. The defeat knocked the Lakers below .500 (9-10) for the second time this week, and the team lost for plenty of reasons. Anthony Davis dropped 41 points on their heads, the Lakers turned the ball over 12 times, and didn’t defend particularly well for most of the night.

Jordan Clarkson had another, simpler reason for the defeat.

“I shot like butt tonight,” Clarkson said on Spectrum Sportsnet following the loss, and he wasn’t wrong. The Lakers’ normally superb sub missed 10 of his 14 shots on the evening, a 28.6 percent success rate that falls far below his season average of 45 percent from the floor.

The Lakers shot just 42.5 percent overall, and 16.7 percent on three-pointers, so Clarkson was hardly the only player that shot like butt against New Orleans. But with Nick Young seeming likely to miss some time, Julius Randle ailing, and D’Angelo Russell out for at least another week, the Lakers will need Clarkson to be better.

The good news for them is he appears to be aware of that, and he’ll get a chance to bounce right back against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

All stats per NBA.com. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.