Over the last couple of seasons, every time it has seemed like the Los Angeles Lakers have been building positive momentum, they have found a way to stop it.
They took a five-game winning streak into the Midwest on Friday and took on the Indiana Pacers, a team they had defeated fairly easily in two previous meetings this season. But after scoring a season-high 150 points against it on Sunday, they could only muster a season-worst 90 points and lost by 19.
Los Angeles couldn’t hit the board side of a barn from 3-point range, and it only scored 39 second-half points after trailing by just five at halftime.
There was nothing necessarily wrong with the team’s effort. But something was simply missing, and LeBron James said it simply didn’t have the same energy in its third game in four nights.
"We didn't have the energy that we've had in the last few weeks." LeBron James on the loss to the Pacers. pic.twitter.com/CMGwEJwNX7
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 30, 2024
Head coach Darvin Ham seemed to agree while reiterating the importance of the Lakers playing up-tempo basketball, something they didn’t consistently do on Friday.
Darvin Ham: "I thought we were running in mud a little bit. Third game, four nights… it's a combination of a couple different factors… Just didn't have a lot of pop on the offensive side of things." pic.twitter.com/PWm9b4Oudy
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 30, 2024
The Lakers’ next three games will be against sub-.500 opponents in the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards, but none of them will be easy. The Nets defeated them easily in January, while the Raptors and Wizards gave them all they could handle before losing by a combined four points.
