The slate has been wiped clean ahead of Wednesday’s meeting in Indianapolis, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers collide after both saw their recent streaks come to an end.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle implored his players to “make a stand” after crashing to a 16th consecutive loss — a franchise record — and the Pacers did just that with a drought-breaking 128-126 victory over the host Orlando Magic on Monday.
Pascal Siakam scored 37 points before producing the clutch defensive play of the game when he blocked Paolo Banchero’s drive at the buzzer, which would have sent the game into overtime.
“We had not been playing well,” Carlisle said. “The game (Saturday) in San Antonio was very disappointing for all of us. We talked about it (Monday) morning that we needed to make a stand and raise our level of collective will of how we’re competing. Guys did it, led by the veterans — Pascal, Andrew (Nesmith) and Aaron (Nembhard). It was a great game. It felt like a playoff-type game.”
Indiana (16-56) had led by 12 deep in the fourth period before narrowly surviving a late Orlando rally.
It was the Pacers’ first win since Feb. 11, before the All-Star Game that featured Siakam, who is averaging a team-best 24.0 points.
“In the position we’re in, we need to play as much meaningful basketball as we can, because we know we’re not going to be in the playoffs,” Carlisle said. “This was an important game at an important time … We hadn’t won a game in a while. We needed this.”
The Lakers (46-26) had won nine straight — their best run since 2020 — before being edged 113-110 in Detroit on Monday.
Luka Doncic — the league’s leading scorer, averaging 33.4 points — posted 32 against the Pistons, but missed two key shots down the stretch.
The Slovenian superstar was unsuccessful with a go-ahead pullup from 13 feet, before Daniss Jenkins’ two free throws at the other end put Detroit up by three.
Los Angeles called for time and LeBron James’ long inbound caught a deflection before ending with Doncic, who missed a tough 3-pointer over Jalen Duren to level it at the buzzer.
Despite the setback, Lakers coach JJ Redick liked how his team rallied after the Pistons had stormed ahead by 16 in the third period.
“I didn’t feel like we were going to break,” Redick said. “We made the adjustment at halftime to switch one through five. That was helpful in slowing them down.”
The Lakers’ cause wasn’t helped by the absence of regular starters Marcus Smart (ankle) and Rui Hachimura (calf). Smart is doubtful to play Wednesday and Hachimura is questionable.
“Our winning streak also coincided with us being healthy,” Redick said. “(Monday), Smart and Rui were out. Not having Smart killed us. It’s important for us that we can get healthy and play our rotation. Post-Luke (Kennard) trade, when all nine guys have played, we’ve been a good basketball team. We need to finish the season strong, but we also need to finish the season healthy.”
LeBron James endured a rare scoreless first half but still impacted the game, finishing just shy of a triple double — 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
“They play extremely hard, extremely fast and they’re super well-coached,” James said of the Pacers. “We’ve got to be ready for that. It’s our last game of the road trip. I know everybody’s trying to get home, but we’ve got business to take care of. We’ll be ready.”
