Welcome in to the full recap of the Lakers' home matchup vs. the Indiana Pacers where the Lakers notched a much-needed win beating the Pacers 96-108 to snap their current losing skid.
Great way to end the home stand on a high note. In the Lakers' recent skid, they've been lacking in some effort during those last few games and half of those games resulted in blowouts. Tonight, they played a very solid game with great effort on both sides of the ball against Paul George and the Pacers.
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Lou Williams, 27 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 7-15 shooting. There's no denying, Lou Williams is the best player and the best scorer on the team. He had a couple of three pointers that almost went in, but didn't to put him at the 30 point mark. Sweet Lou did what he did best tonight: shooting threes, drawing contact, driving to the basket. He should be in the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year by the time this season ends.
Brandon Ingram, 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals. I said it in the Portland game last Thursday, Ingram is doing a great job being more assertive to NBA play. I'm very impressed with the way he's playing this month. He's being more aggressive. His 3-point game is slowly, but surely beginning to connect. I personally think with the way Ingram played in place of Luol Deng this month, he should get a shot at starting from here on out because he's been producing the last few games since being inserted into the starting lineup. He filled the stat sheet again tonight.
Julius Randle, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 7-13 shooting. During the skid, I keep seeing Randle being held to single digit. Even though I don't react much with the Quick Fact Checks, I was concern about Julius' recent slump. I was like "this guy should be stuffing the stat sheet." I liked Randle's energy and effort tonight to shake off the slump. I liked the aggressiveness and hustle that he displayed tonight. It's a matter of consistency for Randle. He's more than capable of double-doubling every single game.
Nick Young, 15 points, 5-13 shooting. I was sure that when Nick Young landed awkwardly on his foot, he was questionable to return. It's a good thing I'm no doctor. Swaggy P was raining threes all game alongside Sweet Lou and I thought he did a great job containing Paul George defensively. PG13 was relatively quiet until he stat padded when the game was well out of reach with 21 points. I gotta credit Clarkson as well. Both him and Young did well defending PG13.
Tarik Black, 8 points, 13 rebounds. I really like Black's effort. This dates back to last year, but Byron Scott didn't want to give him playing time. He's making the most out of it with the playing time. He was known for cutting and dunking and rebounding, but he showed more than that tonight with the jump hooks and the facilitation of the basketball.
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There was really not much I can complain about here. The Lakers did a fine job negating mistakes tonight against a good Pacers team.
MVP
Sweet Lou has been nothing short of amazing since coming to the Lakers. It was another day in the scoring office for him tonight against the Pacers.
Conclusion
Overall, great win from the Lakers, especially to snap the losing streak. The Lakers wrap up a 3-game home stand. Now, they face a 3-game road stand after this. Road games for the Lakers have been relatively unfriendly to them this season. This road stretch ahead is no joke. They play at Dallas on Sunday and play at Portland and at Utah on back-to-back sets. The Mavs, Blazers, and Jazz have the Lakers' number this season. Tough outing, but if the Lakers repeat this effort from tonight, anything can happen. Of course, D'Angelo Russell's status needs to be updated. Again, it's reported he has a mild MCL sprain, so it's likely he'll miss this road stretch. The Lakers need to be at full strength. That means Larry Nance, Jr. has to come back and hopefully, D'Lo makes a speedy recovery. It's a fight to the finish for that 8th seed for the playoffs in the West, but we're more focused that the Lakers finish strong by season's end. But again, great win against the Pacers. Gotta see if the Lakers can build some consistency as they take on a 3-game road stretch. The back-to-back against the Blazers and Jazz are gonna be televised on ESPN and TNT. So I'll see you guys on Wednesday and Thursday for those games.
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