Five days after the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers delivered nearly 300 points in a regulation game, there is expected to be offense aplenty once again when the rematch goes down Friday in Indianapolis.
The Lakers (41-32) earned a 150-145 victory over the visiting Pacers on Sunday behind 36 points and 16 rebounds from Anthony Davis. Four Lakers starters scored at least 25 points, with LeBron James contributing 26 points and 10 assists.
The Pacers (41-33) had eight players score in double figures, led by Pascal Siakam, who had 36 points with 12 rebounds.
The Lakers took control by scoring 86 points in the middle two quarters alone, with the Pacers doing their best to rally with a 46-point fourth quarter. It was Los Angeles’ highest scoring game since 1987.
While the scoring frenzy was impressive, there was not necessarily complete pride from either team.
“I mean, we allowed them to score 145,” Davis said. “… They had a big fourth quarter. (It was) terrible defensively. They hit some shots towards the end.”
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle expressed his displeasure with the way the game was called. Indiana was whistled for 31 fouls, with Los Angeles called for 14. The Lakers went 38 of 43 from the free-throw line, while Indiana went 9 of 16.
“At a certain point, you’ve got to play absolutely perfectly and that was going to be very, very difficult,” Carlisle said. “But the level of fight is something that we can continue to build on.”
The Lakers enter Friday’s game on a season-best five-game winning streak, following up the victory over the Pacers with wins at Milwaukee and Memphis to open a six-game road trip.
James had a triple-double with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists in a 136-124 victory over the Grizzlies on Wednesday, while Rui Hachimura made a career-best seven 3-pointers on his way to 32 points. Davis (knee) had the night off, one game after James (ankle) got his own night of rest.
“Our laundry list has been simplified,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said of his ninth-place team that was 2 1/2 games out of the No. 6 spot heading into NBA play Thursday. “We know that nothing else matters if we don’t take care of our own business. You feel the playoff smell in the air. The playoffs and the postseason are rapidly approaching.”
The Pacers are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and in possession of the last automatic playoff berth, with the seventh-place Miami Heat one game back.
Indiana is coming off a 125-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday that ended a 3-2 road trip. Friday’s game starts a run where four of the Pacers’ next five games are at home.
Andrew Nembhard scored 18 points against the Bulls as the Pacers shot 40.0 percent from the floor in a performance that was a far cry from what they showed the Lakers at Los Angeles. Siakam had 14 points and eight rebounds.
“I just felt like we didn’t make a lot of shots and didn’t play in transition,” said Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, who scored 13 points on 4-of-15 shooting. “They kind of dictated the pace. We need to do a better job of getting stops so we can run.”
–Field Level Media