Lakers Defeat Pacers 150-145 Behind Anthony Davis’ 36 Points

(CTN News) – A 150-145 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night was the Lakers’ highest scoring performance in 37 years thanks to 36 points from Anthony Davis and 16 rebounds from LeBron James.

In his biggest offensive game since joining the Lakers, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 26 points. While Indiana scored 46 points in the final quarter, Los Angeles led 116-99 entering the fourth quarter.

The 17-time NBA champions held on with 10 points in the final minute, including six free throws by Austin Reaves.

The (In-Season Tournament) championship was their first game against us, and we know they have a powerful offense,” James remarked. Despite how low they go, they won’t stop playing, so we win.”

In the final seconds of the game, Tyrese Haliburton hit two 3-pointers to trim the Lakers’ lead to three points. Cam Reddish stole Doug McDermott’s pass with three seconds left as Dinwiddie made one free throw and Haliburton missed a 3.

In Davis’ words, we were terrible defensively by allowing 145 points. You saw tonight that we are able to play offensively however we like. Our defense is essential when we have a team (in trouble) like that. It is still a win at this point of the season, regardless of how it goes. That’s fine, but I’ll also learn from it.”

The Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle was irritated by the Lakers’ 43 free throws, while his team committed 31 fouls against Los Angeles’ 14.

“I thought our guys played really hard,” Carlisle said. Some things could not be overcome. One is a 27-foul differential, and the other is a 17-foul differential.”

The Pacers fell to 2-1 after allowing 86 points in the second and third quarters of a five-game road trip. Pascal Siakam scored 19 out of his 36 points in the third quarter. A total of 20 points were scored by Turner, while 17 points were scored by McConnell.

There are times when it’s easy to drop your head and say, ‘Hey, it’s not our night,’ but our guys don’t do that,” Carlisle said. “Our second unit made a valiant effort in the second half. In that final five-minute stretch, the first unit fought back and hung in. Playing perfectly at a certain point would be extremely difficult.”

Having been without sharpshooting guard D’Angelo Russell due to a non-COVID illness, Dinwiddie stepped up for the Lakers.

This matchup did not disappoint with offensive fireworks. The Pacers rallied from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter in their last meeting with the Lakers in November 2022 to win 116-115 on a 3-pointer from Andrew Nembhard.

As part of the inaugural In-Season Tournament held last December, the Lakers beat the Pacers 123-109 in Las Vegas. Following their victory over the Spurs, the Lakers fell into a 3-10 slump. They haven’t risen higher than ninth in the Western Conference despite being 22-13 since then.

Davis had 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half to keep the Lakers close in Russell’s absence and the Pacers’ speedy play. Siakam kept Indiana in the game despite the Lakers scoring 116 points through three quarters. La Albiceleste’s exhibition match at the Coliseum on Tuesday was attended by most of the national soccer team.

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