Los Angeles Lakers lose two streaks vs. Indiana Pacers, 4 lessons

LeBron James looked like he was going for 40 points in the 1st quarter. Then he couldn’t be found again until the 4th quarter.

For all of the analytic and LeBron James fanatics, let’s get the stats out-of-the-way. Most media outlets will say that LeBron finished one assist and rebound shy of yet another triple-double with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.

In the first half, it looked like LeBron was going to torch the Pacers like he did the Hawks. He was on fire hitting six of his first eight shots. After seeing this alley-oop from Rajon Rondo, it looked like James was going for 40 points.

Then LeBron fell off the face of the Earth only hitting two shots for the rest of the game. He wasn’t seen again in the scoring column until the 4th quarter when he scored seven points.

It was the tale of two games for LeBron James. For the first part of the game, he actually dazzled the Pacers crowd with some “Magic” like passes.

When he wasn’t scoring, he was carving up the Pacers’ interior defense with passes only seen in people’s imaginations. But there are bad habits that are starting to surface again. They are as follows.

1. LeBron James had five turnovers in the game. He is in the top-5 this season with 4.0 turnovers per game. Sure the usage rate is high, but this is not going to fly against title contenders. 
2. He shot 0-of-6 from 3-point range. The last one was with 11 seconds left in the game. Nobody has stopped this guy from driving to the basket all season long. Myles Turner was guarding him at the 3-point line. Blow past him and put pressure on the defense. 
3. The man’s free throw percentage is dropping with each passing game. Dwight Howard has been bad throughout his career. LeBron James can’t go 4-of-8 from the free-throw line and blow two free throws late.

Sure, this is only one game. However, the Lakers have the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. Anthony Davis more than likely will be in the lineup, but LeBron is going to have to show that he can play at an MVP level WITHOUT Davis in the lineup.