INDIANAPOLIS — The Lakers were due for the type of game they had in their 109-90 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
A night when the shots they usually hit don’t fall. When each turnover is even more costly. When the heavy legs from what’s already become a long road trip show themselves.
When the energy is simply lacking.
The Lakers (41-33) were on the receiving end of all of it against the Pacers (42-33) – a team they’ve had great offensive success against in previous matchups this season, but they didn’t on Friday night.
“We were running in mud a little bit,” coach Darvin Ham said. “Third game, four nights. You come here and it’s like the Indy 500 as fast as they play. It’s a combination of a lot of different factors. We got out of rhythm a little bit. And so, a lot of shots came up against the clock.
“But overall, we’ve been playing some great basketball. We’ll get our treatments, we’ll get our nutrition, our recovery going, and be ready to bounce back on Sunday.”
The Lakers, who have been one of the NBA’s best offensive teams over the last couple of months, struggled from the opening tip, eventually ending their season-best five-game win streak.
They didn’t score more than 25 points in any quarter, with their 90 points being the fewest they scored in a game this season.
“Offensively we didn’t have it going,” LeBron James said. “Obviously we shot horribly from the 3. We’ve been shooting the ball exceptionally well from the outside over the last few months. Just [Friday], we didn’t have it.
Anthony Davis, who was available after missing Wednesday’s victory over the Memphis Grizzlies because of a hyperextended left knee, finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and three assists but appeared to still be battling through the knee ailment.
“Still sore,” Davis said. “Took me awhile to kinda get into the game because…I’ll be all right.”
Davis added: “Get better in a couple of days. Nothing serious. That’s why I played [Friday]. I felt like I could play through it. Nothing that I plan to miss any more games for or have to be on a minutes restriction or anything like that.”
James finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists while Austin Reaves had 16 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, but both James and Reaves had five turnovers apiece of the Lakers’ 16 giveaways for 16 Pacers’ points.
“It’s just careless,” James said. “You got to be able to focus and play through it and understand it’s three in four nights, but it’s no excuse. No excuse for uncharacteristic and unforced turnovers. Some of them you’re trying to make a play to a teammate or whatever and it gets batted down or it’s an attack turnover, you can be OK with those but some of the unforced ones, you’re not. You can never be OK with that.”
Rui Hachimura added 14 points. D’Angelo Russell struggled, finishing with just six points on 3-for-14 shooting to go with five assists.
The Lakers shot 40.7% from the field (35 for 86) and just 16.7% from 3-point range (five for 30), with their shooting accuracy from behind the arc being their second-worst mark of the season.
They trailed for nearly the entire game after taking an early lead, including 27-24 at the end of the first quarter, 54-49 at halftime and 86-72 going into the fourth.
The Lakers made a comeback attempt, cutting their deficit to eight points early in the fourth and seven (90-83) after Davis made a pair of free throws following a flagrant foul. But they didn’t get any closer.
Coach Darvin Ham pulled his starters with 2:08 remaining after a Tyrese Haliburton 3-pointer gave the Pacers a 107-88 lead – the Pacers’ largest lead of the night up to that point.
Haliburton finished with 21 points and eight assists. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
The Lakers defeated the Pacers, 123-109, in the inaugural In-Season Tournament title game in December and 150-145 last Sunday in Los Angeles.