The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night in a rematch of the NBA In-Season Tournament championship.
With only a handful of games left in the regular season, this was an important game for both teams that are fighting for playoff seeding in their respective conferences. Ultimately, it was the Lakers that came out on top in a high-scoring affair with a 150-145 victory.
The Pacers came out firing with back-to-back triples although the Lakers answered by feeding Anthony Davis inside to take an early 10-8 lead.
With D’Angelo Russell ruled out before tipoff with an illness, Spencer Dinwiddie got the start in his place and was aggressive with five quick points. The Pacers were playing with a nice pace though, beating the Lakers to the rim for some easy buckets in transition.
Pascal Siakam, in particular, was making it a point to get to the basket, throwing down a poster dunk and drawing some fouls.
Davis had a dominant quarter with 15 points and eight rebounds, but Doug McDermott got hot at the end so the Pacers led 36-30 after one.
After a quiet first quarter, LeBron James went into attack mode to begin the second. He then found Max Christie for a triple, regaining the lead for the Lakers. The Pacers immediately responded with a 9-0 run though so it was short-lived.
Austin Reaves led a Laker run from there with a three-point play and then two sweet dishes for 3-pointers. Taurean Prince then got in on the action with five straight points and the Lakers wound up taking a 72-68 lead into the halftime locker room.
Dinwiddie knocked down back-to-back triples to begin the third quarter, picking up where he left off. After Reaves joined in on the action, the Lakers took their first double digit lead of the night.
L.A.’s size continued to be an issue for Indiana from there as Davis and James were getting whatever they wanted inside. Davis even buried a triple as everything was going right for the Lakers, taking a comfortable 116-99 lead into the fourth.
With James and Davis on the bench, the Pacers immediately cut their deficit to 11 early in the fourth, causing the Lakers to take a timeout.
The Lakers continued to get complacent from there as the Pacers continued chipping away, getting their deficit down to four with a few minutes to play.
L.A.’s stars responded from there though with James drilling a corner triple and Davis making a layup for a quick 5-0 run. They were able to close it out from there, picking up their third straight win.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers now head out on the road for a six-game trip, starting Tuesday evening in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
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