The Los Angeles Lakers went for their sixth straight win on Friday night when they continued their road trip against the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers are a familiar opponent for the Lakers, having already beaten them twice this season with one of them being for the In-Season Tournament championship. LeBron James and Anthony Davis were both available as the Lakers went for the season sweep, but the Pacers played with much more intensity in this one to earn a 109-90 victory.
Rui Hachimura picked up where he left off the other night, hitting a 3-pointer to begin the game and then Austin Reaves found James for an alley-oop.
As is usually the case when these two teams play, there was a nice pace early with the Pacers draining a pair of triples and then James finding Davis for another alley-oop. The scoring slowed down a bit when the starters went to the bench with the Lakers committing some turnovers, resulting in the Pacers leading 27-24 at the end of the first.
While James had a couple slick passes in transition to begin the second, the Lakers continued to struggle at defending the 3-point line.
What the Lakers did a good job of though was getting out in transition with James and Reaves finding Davis and Hachimura for some easy buckets. Some silly turnovers cost the Lakers to end the half though and they went into the locker room trailing 54-49.
The Lakers’ energy wasn’t great to start the third quarter as the Lakers continued turning the ball over and struggling from deep, allowing the Pacers to build their first double-digit lead.
With Russell and others really struggling on 3-point shots, the Lakers struggled to keep up with the Pacers’ offense. Through three quarters, the Lakers as a team were just 3-for-22 from deep. Indiana continued building its lead and took a comfortable 86-72 advantage into the fourth after a strong third quarter.
Reaves did hit part to change things to begin the final quarter, connecting on a wing triple. After a three-point play by Davis, the deficit was quickly cut to eight. Davis continued going to work from there, earning a flagrant one foul by Jalen Smith, allowing the Lakers to chip away at their deficit.
Reaves committed a costly turnover that led to a Pacers breakout though as the Lakers began to lose momentum. Indiana built its lead back to 15, and from there, Darvin Ham decided to empty the bench and call it a night.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers continue their road trip on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets where reports indicate they could get Gabe Vincent back in the lineup.
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