Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Pelicans

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Downtown in the middle of December is lit up for somebody else's event every single night, and walking through that to a basketball game is one of the better ways to use the month. The plaza has a rink on it, the trees are strung, the whole area is briefly pretending to be a town square rather than a traffic problem. A Monday tip is the quiet counterweight to all that: a half-full building, no occasion attached, and a crowd that came out on the worst night of the week in the busiest month of the year specifically to be there. New Orleans is a loose, watchable opponent with nothing much at stake in December. Go for the walk in as much as the game, and leave time for it. Parking downtown in December is the one real cost, so take the train if you can - it drops you close enough that the lit plaza is the walk in rather than an obstacle on the way from a structure.