3.) Limit the turnovers
The Lakers are coming off one of their worst nights in terms of taking care of the ball against the Atlanta Hawks. As a team, they committed 22 turnovers, which is their season high so far. This is made worse by the fact that in the game before against the Heat, they committed 19 turnovers, so it appears that the Lakers have been getting a little sloppy with the ball.
That’s fine when you’re playing a team like the Hawks, where you can win just off of sheer talent, but that isn’t going to work against a team like the Pacers. They are currently the 6th ranked defense in the league, as well as being 14th in opponent TOV% per CleaningtheGlass.
They have talented, savvy defenders in Malcom Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner, and a scheme that defends almost every spot on the floor at a top-10 level. Hopefully the Lakers have been studying film from their past two games, because if they come into Indiana handling the ball like they did in Atlanta and Miami, then they’re in for a long night.