INDIANAPOLIS — While one game doesn’t make or break a season, Wednesday’s contest felt like it could be a real blow to the Lakers.
Already riding a three-game skid coming into the night, the Lakers were in the driver’s seat late against the Pacers, set for a big road win as they led by six with under two minutes remaining.
Seven unanswered points by the Pacers over a 62-second span, though, saw them grab the lead and all the momentum, capped off by a Tyrese Haliburton and-one that had Gainbridge Fieldhouse rocking.
The Lakers were staring down a fourth loss in a row, this one a particularly crushing one, with just under three weeks left in the season. All the good vibes of early March were fading away as the Lakers were potentially looking for more answers after yet another loss.
Up stepped the man on the Lakers.
After a stellar defensive play on the Pacers’ final possession, LeBron James tipped home a missed Luka Dončić floater to win the game and quell so many of those concerns, at least for one night.
“Felt like a game we won three times and we lost three times and we ended up winning the game,” head coach JJ Redick said postgame. “It’s hard to win in the NBA. It’s hard to win against a great team like Indiana...For our group to get two wins against them, given our struggles against the Eastern Conference, we’re really happy with that.”
It was very far from a typical night for LeBron. In fact, he did not have a field goal through the first three quarters of the game, a first in his NBA career. He immediately asserted himself in the fourth quarter, though, scoring 10 points, none bigger than his final two.
“I really couldn’t have too much emotion because I was trying to see if I got the ball off in time, to be honest,” LeBron said. “It’s always tricky when you touch the ball, you kind see the red light around the backboard and you don’t quite know if you got it on time. I thought I had it on time but you never know. It’s always that split second to see if the tip of your fingers are on the ball or not.
“After they showed the replay on it, it’s definitely gratifying. Especially the way we’ve been playing and to know how they’ve been playing, to come in here and get a win in a hostile environment, that’s a big win for our ball club.”
It wasn’t long ago that the Lakers were the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. But LeBron’s own injury, a grueling schedule to close the month and some rocky performance since being whole again had changed the outlook for the Lakers.
As they came into Wednesday’s game on the front end of a back-to-back against one of the hottest teams in the league, they suddenly were facing a pretty daunting challenge while looking to snap a growing losing streak.
A back-and-forth first half saw Austin Reaves and Luka do the heavy lifting offensively to build a lead as large as 17. As they’ve been prone to do of late, LA gave most of that advantage away in the third and led by just three points heading into the final frame.
To that point, LeBron was just 0-6 from the field, his only points coming on a trio of free throws. But he was still impacting the game, having grabbed eight rebounds while dishing out seven assists, both team-high marks.
When it mattered most, though, LeBron was there. First, with the Pacers leading by one and under 20 seconds remaining, LeBron’s late blitz on Bennedict Mathurin forced him into a contested, double-pump 3-pointer that missed badly.
LeBron found himself open after leaking out downcourt, but Luka, who corralled the miss, admitted he didn’t have the confidence to make a full-court pass with under 10 seconds remaining. Instead, he swung it to Reaves, who fed LeBron in the post.
The ball would be kicked back out to Luka, who beat his man off the dribble and got a clean look at a game-winner with a floater in the paint. The shot hit the rim and bounced off, but straight into the waiting hand of LeBron, whose tipped left his fingers with just one-tenth of a second remaining.
It'll get lost in the game winner but LeBron running out to double Mathurin was a huge play defensively caused the hesitation then of course the game winner. Siakam takes one step too many, Luka gets by him forcing Nesmith to rotate opening up the lane for LeBron to crash. pic.twitter.com/UGnrmU5OiK
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) March 27, 2025
“Bron just made a huge play and I think it’s another great example where he doesn’t necessarily have it going early, got off to a slow start offensively,” Redick said. “He was so good defensively, he was so good on the glass for us, really led us on that end. And then takes over in the fourth quarter and gets rewarded by the basketball gods because he didn’t let of the go of the rope and didn’t stop competing.”
At multiple points in their current losing streak, the Lakers have let go of the rope, especially defensively. Even as things spiraled a bit in the third quarter and the Pacers made their run, the Lakers never let go of the rope, having just enough responses to keep the Pacers at bay.
So often, LeBron was at the center of that, even if he wasn’t the one putting the ball in the bucket. Whether it was cleaning the glass, finding teammates or making defensive plays, LeBron was impacting Wednesday’s game even before he made the biggest play of the night.
Because of that, the Lakers leave Indianapolis with a win. And while a fourth loss in a row wouldn’t have caused a five-alarm fire, more and more red flags were being raised as losses were piling up during this streak.
Only time will tell if Wednesday’s win changes the momentum for the Lakers as they make their final strides down the home stretch before the postseason. But in a season full of memorable moments, on and off the court, it’ll certainly go down as one of the best.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at@JacobRude or on Bluesky at@jacobrude.bsky.social.