After three straight losses, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to get back on track on Wednesday night when they continued their road trip against the Indiana Pacers.
While it wasn’t easy, the Lakers were able to emerge victorious with a 120-119 win on a LeBron James tip-in at the buzzer.
The Lakers jumped out to a quick 6-0 start in this one with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both finding Jaxson Hayes for thunderous dunks. That was met by eight quick points by the Pacers though as the Lakers were committing costly turnovers, allowing easy transition points.
After a timeout, the Lakers have a nice response with Rui Hachimura and Doncic both connecting from deep. Doncic wound up hitting three triples in a row, but the Pacers responded with another run before Gabe Vincent ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer to cut L.A.’s deficit to 33-28.
The Lakers’ run continued into the second quarter with them ripping off six straight more points to force a Pacers timeout. L.A.’s run didn’t stop there as it wound up being 18 straight points before the Pacers scratched.
Reaves, who had his career-high against the Pacers last month, led the way during that run with 11 straight points to extend the lead to double digits. Doncic then returned to the game and picked up where Reaves left off offensively, sending the Lakers into the halftime locker room with a 68-55 lead after a 40-22 second quarter.
As has been the case a lot lately, the Lakers came out flat in the third quarter as Myles Turner had 10 straight points to get the Pacers back in it. Turnovers continued to be an issue for L.A. with Indiana taking advantage. Once they caught fire from deep, the Lakers needed a timeout with their lead down to just two.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Vincent had a nice response out of the timeout with back-to-back triples. The Pacers stayed hot though and cut their deficit to 95-92 going into the fourth quarter.
James went into the final quarter with just three points, meaning his streak of 1,282 straight games in double figures was in serious jeopardy. Naturally though, he went into attack mode and had back-to-back buckets, a pair of free throws and then a layup to start the fourth and quickly get into double figures to keep his streak alive.
That spurt by LeBron helped get the lead back to double digits, although that was short-lived as the Pacers immediately responded with a 17-2 run to take their first lead since the second quarter.
Doncic got a 3 and then a layup to go to stop the bleeding for the Lakers, but things remained close heading into the final couple of minutes.
After a quiet night, Hachimura drained two triples in a row to keep his team ahead. The Lakers had some more costly turnovers though, and a three-point play by Tyrese Haliburton put the Pacers up 119-118 in the final minute.
The Lakers got a stop and had one last chance when Doncic missed a midrange shot, but thankfully James was there to tip it in right as time expired for the big win.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers don’t have time to rest as they now travel to take on the Chicago Bulls in the second night of a back-to-back on Thursday. The Bulls blew out the Lakers in L.A. last week so the latter would love to get some revenge with a win in Chicago.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
