The Los Angeles Lakers were back in action again in the middle of the long Grammys Trip taking on the Indiana Pacers. The Lakers were fresh off a New York split beating the New York Knicks in overtime on Tuesday night. A win here would get the Lake Show back to .500 before taking on the New Orleans Pelicans over the weekend.
In a game where the Indiana Pacers led almost the entire game, it looked like Deja Vu all over again with the Pacers having the last shot to win the game. Let’s set this up. Remember this play to end the last matchup?
PACERS BEAT LAKERS AT THE BUZZER 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/AtujNp3Y2w
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 29, 2022
Three major factors happened here that didn’t happen in this one.
- Tyrese Haliburton initiated the play and made the right read.
- Buddy Hield was nowhere near the ball to mess it up.
- Andrew Nembhard knocks down the game-winner!
This game had the Lakers not blowing a huge lead in the final moments, Russell Westbrook doing just enough to finish the game, Darvin Ham put Pat-Bev on Haliburton to put enough pressure to make sure Buddy Hield took a bad shot to get the Lakers win.
Confused? Try summarizing these type of games for the last month.
The Los Angeles Lakers had a humongous 112-111 thriller to win their second straight nail-biter. Give this team all the credit in the world, they might have found a solution to sneak out of these wins. The free throw line.
The Lakers went to the line 31 times to the Pacers 6. Even though they stunk it up late, the fact that this team can come back with the clock not running has been a recipe for success as of late.
The good of the Los Angeles Lakers win:
Anthony Davis came out aggressive which needs to be the norm going forward.
The staff of Lake Show Life has stated over and over that Anthony Davis needs to be engaged in the offense early to be effective. This is exactly what happened as he looked for his offense time and time again to the tune of double-figure attempts. He dropped 17 points before halftime.
He destroyed the Pacers for 31 points, 14 rebounds (5 offensive!) and 2 blocks. None was more important than the one he had on Haliburton with seconds left in the game!
AD with the go-ahead bucket and the lead-saving block 〰 pic.twitter.com/YW6ewwr643
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 3, 2023
He was yelling FULL TIME to the crowd as the Pacers were forced to foul and he carried the ball off when the game was over. This was old school…grown man…dominance here!
LeBron James is continuing to play the right way!
He’s back to playing chess again. Look it’s no secret the scoring record is dominating narratives but he’s not allowing the chase to hurt winning opportunities. He could have easily started jacking up long shots for scoring numbers, but he stayed within the offense and took what the defense gave him. He has changed his game for the betterment of the team and he deserves a lot of shine because of it.
Oh…he STILL finished with 26 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
The Los Angeles Lakers can now sell Patrick Beverley in a trade!
Low-key, Pat-Bev is playing well and knocking down shots when available. It’s good for next week!
Rob Pelinka: Hello we want to make a trade including Patrick Beverley!
NBA GM: Laughing
Rob Pelinka: Sends video clip of this game with his highlights…
NBA GM: Okay add him in for salary purposes.
This was not happening when Pat Bev was donating bricks in NBA cities. Now he’s shooting over 44 percent over the new year.
The bad of the Los Angeles Lakers win:
Tyrese Haliburton returned to the Indiana Pacers lineup!
This message is to the NBA casuals that don’t follow the league but live in a Los Angeles Lakers bubble…
Man, that Tyrese Halliburton dude can play some basketball!
The handle. The pass. 🥶
— NBA (@NBA) February 3, 2023
Tyrese Haliburton has 16 PTS and 8 AST.
WATCH: https://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/M6avcz7nkf
While he was out of the lineup due to injury, the Indiana Pacers were nosediving to the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes losing ten of eleven games. But with Tyrese in the lineup, it seemed everyone had a week and a half to get their shots off from beyond the arc. Oh, it wasn’t all about passes with Haliburton (6 assists in the first half!) as he was leading Indiana in scoring at halftime with 16 points.
What makes him unique is that his jumper is so mechanical (Find Andre Miller on YouTube for comparisons!) but no one can stop what he wants to do. This was not about the Lakers playing bad defense, but about an All-Star player that is going to be a superstar.
Haliburton finished with 26 points and 12 assists.
The Indiana Pacers woke up and paid Myles Turner his money!
If a fan has ever seen a contract negotiation in the middle of the season, this was exactly it. Remember when the Lakers were supposed to be getting this guy along with Buddy Hield for Russell Westbrook? PFFT! That was never going to happen because of Tyrese Haliburton’s development (Feel free to re-read Haliburton’s section again!) and the Lakers weren’t going to give him the extension the Pacers did.
What does this have to do with this game huh?
Myles Turner refocused his game and the Lakers were paying for it. He had a dominant performance in the first 24 minutes with 14 points (6-8 shooting!), 9 rebounds and 2 assists. See AD came out aggressive early but Turner matched his production. Up until the extension, it was plain to see that Myles was playing hard enough not to get hurt so he wouldn’t get squeezed in the summer. Indiana put his mind at ease with the new contract and the Lakers are wondering again…”What if?”.
Foul trouble slowed Myles but he still finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Lakers 3 point defense.
The Indiana Pacers had 17 shots from beyond the arc in the win in Los Angeles. The Pacers were raining down 3 point shots so much in the first half alone, it looked like they eclipsed the total by halftime. Luckily the Pacers went cold in the second half. The Los Angeles Lakers do not shoot well enough to match great nights from the opposition. Game over…let’s move on because this is the facts.
Westbrook will be known as West”brick” again if this bad shooting keeps up…
2-16.
The story of the Los Angeles Lakers win:
The Los Angeles Lakers are now becoming scheduling changes surrounding LeBron James breaking the record!
This is a weird time in the NBA. LeBron is going to break an all-time record but the Lakers stink. LeBron is playing out of his mind, but technically the Lakers are in last place in the Western Conference (San Antonio and Houston are tanking folks! They don’t even count!).
The Lakers should celebrate this honor, but it’s almost embarrassing that the NBA is making all of these changes in the schedule to make sure it’s about LeBron’s record as opposed to the Los Angeles Lakers being must-see TV.
After he breaks the record…then what?