Unbelievable! Lakers set new high score with 150 points to defeat Indiana in nail-biting game
LOS ANGELES – D'Angelo Russell was not healthy enough to play on Sunday, the latest in a series of absences for the Los Angeles Lakers this season.
No offense to Russell, who's been out for two months, but he wasn't missed.
The Lakers provided plenty of firepower on offense and withstood a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Indiana Pacers, 150-145, at Crypto.com Arena. It was the highest point total for Los Angeles in a non-overtime game since 1987.
Basically, everyone who wanted to score had their chance on Sunday.
“Offensively we were very precise,” said LeBron James, who scored 26 points and 10 assists.
Guard Spencer Dinwiddie was the unofficial star of the game, seamlessly taking Russell's place among the starters and unleashing by far his best game since joining the Lakers six weeks ago.
Dinwiddie scored 26 points after averaging just five points in his first 16 games with the Lakers. He made two three-pointers, eight of nine free throws and added five assists.
Dinwiddie is a proven veteran scorer, but he had to be sidelined for a defense-first mentality after signing with the Lakers. He averaged 16.5 points last season with Brooklyn and, of course, still likes to score whenever possible on a team with James, Anthony Davis and the red-hot Russell, who missed Sunday due to an unrelated illness. COVID.
“Don't get it twisted, I love sexy stats. I love scoring,” Dinwiddie told Spectrum SportsNet. “But you know what? It's part of being in a team environment. Every game will be a little different for me. I understood it when I signed here. I hope to be a piece as we move forward.”
Dinwiddie's scoring sacrifice since joining the Lakers was appreciated by at least one major source.
“It just shows what type of player he is, what type of person he is to be able to adjust his game to whatever game plan suits and needs,” James said. “Tonight we needed him to score and be aggressive.”
Things got a little awkward for the Lakers when Indiana cut a 19-point deficit to just four with 5:33 left. But Davis scored eight points down the stretch to secure the Lakers' victory.
Davis had another strong game (36 points and 16 rebounds) but preferred to focus on the Lakers' defensive shortcomings, including a 46-point fourth quarter for Indiana.
“We let them score 145, so it was terrible defensively,” Davis said. “They made some shots toward the end, but we can do whatever we want offensively, as you saw tonight. But we have to defend, especially when we have a team. [down] how that. “We don’t need to breathe life into them, but at this point in the season, a win is a win.”
The Lakers (39-32) moved up slightly in the Western Conference standings and were 2.5 games behind Sacramento and Dallas for seventh place.
Los Angeles' defense was not entirely without merit. Indiana's talented young guard Tyrese Haliburton was a non-factor, finishing with just 12 points and 10 assists. But forward Pascal Siakam did a lot of damage to the Pacers (40-32) and finished with 36 points.
The Lakers now hit the road for a six-game trip that begins with a tough one in Milwaukee but eases up substantially afterward with games in Indiana, Memphis, Brooklyn, Toronto and Washington.
On the other hand, Los Angeles is just 12-20 on the road, the worst record among the top 10 teams in the West, so nothing should be taken for granted.
