Los Angeles Lakers v Indiana Pacers
Source: Michael Hickey / Getty
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – LeBron James breaks the Indiana Pacers (42-30) heart again with a game winning putback to end the Los Angeles Lakers (44-28) three-game losing skid
1. First Quarter
Los Angeles Lakers v Indiana Pacers Source:Getty
For the third straight game, the Indiana Pacers starting lineup featured Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner. The visiting Los Angeles Lakers started the game with six quick points, four of which came from Jaxson Hayes. Indiana countered with eight consecutive points to take an 8-6 advantage following a Nesmith three-pointer. Indiana’s run wound up being 12-2. Later in the first quarter, Haliburton splashed his first three on the night with 5:14 left in the period, making it 22-16. Los Angeles would come back to take a brief 25-24 advantage when Luka Doncic knocked down his third three ball of the quarter. Indiana would take the lead back and then extend it to a quarter high eight points on a Bennedict Mathurin floater. After twelve minutes, Indiana possessed a 33-28 advantage. Doncic led all scorers with 9 points while adding 4 rebounds and 3 assists. As for Indiana, Nesmith was the team leader in scoring with 8 points. Haliburton was off to a solid start with 5 points and 5 assists. Indiana had a lot of success beyond the arc, shooting 5/10 in the first period.
2. Second Quarter
Los Angeles Lakers v Indiana Pacers Source:Getty
After a splendid first quarter, Indiana’s second quarter would be best described as catastrophic. Los Angeles opened the second period with a 15-0 run to take the first double digit lead of the game when Auston Reaves completed a three-point play. The Lakers scoring run would last a little longer as they would eventually take a 63-46 advantage when Doncic converted a difficult fadeaway jumper. With 2:52 left in the half, the Pacers needed to find answers to prevent putting themselves in a huge hole at halftime. Mathurin became the source of offense for the Pacers, scoring six straight points for the Pacers to close the half. At halftime, Indiana was trailing Los Angeles 68-55. Reaves torched the Pacers for 15 points in the second quarter on 5/7 shooting. Doncic also had it going in the second quarter with 10 points, but half of his points came from the free throw line. As for Indiana, Mathurin paced them in scoring in the quarter with 8 points. Leading all scorers at halftime was Doncic 19 points followed by Reaves with 17 points. Indiana’s leading scorers were Nembhard and Mathurin with 10 points. Haliburton recorded 7 points and 11 assists in the first half.
3. Third Quarter
Memphis Grizzlies v Indiana Pacers Source:Getty
Indiana started the second half by scoring the first four points of the third quarter after two points from Haliburton and two points from Siakam. Doncic splashed another three-pointer a couple of possessions later for the Lakers to push their lead back up to fourteen points. Indiana would respond by chopping its deficit in half with an 8-1 run. J.J. Reddick was forced to call a timeout after a Turner corner triple to make it a 76-99 game with 8:18 remaining in the period. Indiana would keep chipping away at its deficit and didn’t let Los Angeles push its lead further than nine points from that point forward. With 2:43 left in the quarter, Nesmith hit his third triple on the night to make it an 88-86 ballgame. Unfortunately for the Pacers, the Lakers hit back-to-back threes in response. Indiana did close the quarter strong by minimizing the damage. After three quarters of play, Los Angeles led 95-92. Turner had it going for the Pacers with 10 points in the quarter, tying Doncic as the most points scored in the quarter by a player. Siakam was effective for the Pacers with 9 points. Haliburton extended his double-double streak with four points and six more assists in the third. Doncic was leading all players in scoring with 29 points after three quarters. Indiana was led by Mathurin with 15 points. Through three quarters, Indiana kept LeBron James virtually out of the game. He had 3 points, all from the charity stripe, and missed all six of his shots.
4. Fourth Quarter
Los Angeles Lakers v Indiana Pacers Source:Getty
Entering tonight, LeBron had scored at least ten points in his last 1,282 games. Through three quarters, it felt like he was hardly involved. It did not take long for him to remind people of his greatness. He scored eight of the first ten points for the Lakers in the first 2:21 of the fourth quarter. The Pacers found themselves down 105-92 because of LeBron putting the Lakers on his back. Indiana came roaring back with an absurd 13-0 run to tie the game at 105 with a long two-point jumper from Mathurin. The two teams would also be tied at 107 after two free throws from Jarace Walker. Doncic would go down and brick a midrange jumper after the two free throws, and then Turner gave the Pacers their first lead in the second half with another second half three-pointer. Los Angeles would come back with a three from Doncic, layup from Doncic, and then back-to-back triples from Hachimura. Indiana had layups sandwiched between the Hachimura threes to prevent a huge deficit late. With 1:51 left in the game, Indiana trailed 118-112. Haliburton took over late in the game to put the Pacers on top by scoring five straight points for the Pacers with less than 90 seconds left in the game. Indiana had a chance to make it at least a three-point game with 33.1 seconds left, but without Haliburton on the court, the Pacers couldn’t get a great look. Mathurin took an awkward looking three pointer, Doncic grabbed the rebound with 8.1 seconds left, dribbled it down the floor, missed a floater inside the free throw line, but LeBron tipped it in as time expired to end the Pacers winning streak with a 120-119 win for the Lakers. LeBron finished with 10 points in the quarter, most amongst all players for the final period.
5. Top Performers
Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New York Knicks 113-109 in over time to win a NBA basketball game. Source:Getty
Luka Doncic (34p, 7r, 7a), Auston Reaves (24p, 5a, 4r), Rui Hachimura (14p, 4r), LeBron James (13p, 13r, 7a), Jaxson Hayes (13p), and Dorian Finney-Smith (11p). For Indiana, Bennedict Mathurin (23p, 5r. 2a), Tyrese Haliburton (16p, 18a), Myles Turner (16p, 12r), Andrew Nembhard (16p, 7r, 3a), Pascal Siakam (15p, 6r), Aaron Nesmith (13p, 6r, 2b, 1s), and Obi Toppin (10p). For tonight’s full box score, click here.
6. Notes
Milwaukee Bucks v Indiana Pacers Source:Getty
Indiana is now 42-30 and 23-11 at Gainbridge FieldhouseIndiana is 26-12 in 2025
Indiana is 12-7 after the All-Star break
Indiana snapped its 8-game home winning streak
Indiana snapped its 5-game winning streak
Indiana’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 4Combination of Indiana wins & Atlanta losses will clinch Pacers a playoff spot
Indiana is now 19-14 in clutch games (8th best)
Austin Reaves has scored 20+ points in 29 games this season
Bennedict Mathurin has scored 20+ points in 21 games this season
Ben Sheppard had the worst +/- amongst all Pacers with a -23 in 7 minutes
LeBron James extends his streak of games with at least 10 points to 1,283 games
LeBron James recorded his 31st double-double on the season
Luka Doncic has scored 30+ points in 21 games this season11 of his 21 games have come as a Laker
Luka Doncic’s 6 threes tied the third most he’s converted in a game this season
Myles Turner recorded his 12th double-double on the season
Rui Hachimura’s 4 threes tied the second most he’s converted in a game this season
Tyrese Haliburton extended his double-double streak to 12 games
Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 27th double-double on the season
Tyrese Haliburton’s 18 assists are a season high
7. Next Up
Washington Wizards v Philadelphia 76ers Source:Getty
The Indiana Pacers will now catch a flight tonight to Washington D.C. and will take on the Wizards tomorrow night. Pat Boylan will get things going at 6:30pm with the pregame show, followed by the play-by-play coverage with Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill at 7pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.