Los Angeles is now at a 7-11 slate, which is in a far better place than they were two weeks ago. Pundits will say that three of those wins were against the San Antonio Spurs, including a back-to-back affair in Texas a few days ago. But it’s not their fault about the schedule and every team goes through an “easy period”, per se. They’d be criticized even more if they didn’t win those games.
Either way, the Lakers are currently living in better times. In this 6-game stretch, they’ve shot .362 from three (that’s above the league average of .355!). The Lakers have also averaged 120 points in said last 6 games. Even their defense has picked it back up, only allowing 106.6 points per 100 possessions, which would actually be second in the league if that was the whole season. But overall, the Lakers are back to 7th in defensive rating.
LeBron James has come back and showed he can still take over a game like he did in the last game, when he scored 39 points and grabbed 11 boards. In the last week or so, Anthony Davis was the best player in the league, having five straight 25-15 games (he did sit out the last game, though). Russell Westbrook continues to thrive off the bench. Lonnie Walker IV has been a consistent scorer. Austin Reaves seems to be getting better and better. And they seem to get some timely great help from guys like Wenyen Gabriel, Dennis Schröder, and Thomas Bryant when they need it. They could stand to take care of the ball better but I’m sure they know that.
Their schedule is about to get tougher. They have two games at home before going on a taxing 6-game Eastern Conference road trip. And they start with an interesting team in the 11-8 Indiana Pacers.
Interesting because the Lakers have been linked to this team all summer due to trade rumors. For months, Myles Turner and Buddy Hield (well, for Hield, it’s years) have been mentioned as deal targets for L.A. There’s good reason for that: Turner is a coveted rim protector (second in the league in blocks with 2.6 per game) and Hield is a deadeye shooter that Sacramento Kings chairman Vivek Ranadive mentioned as having “Stephen Curry potential” when the team traded for him. Hield isn’t exactly Steph Curry (who is?) but he does have a career .397 percentage from three.
The Pacers are more than Turner and Hield. Tyrese Haliburton is an excellent point guard and is currently far and away leading the league in assists with 11.1. They scored huge in the draft last year when they took Bennedict Mathurin. He currently leads all bench players at 18.8 points per game. If anything, he’s the frontrunner for both Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year.
They’ve also got young talent in Jalen Smith (2020 lottery pick by Phoenix), Isaiah Jackson (2021 pick ironically by the Lakers; he was involved in the complicated 5-team Russell Westbrook trade), Oshae Brissett (undrafted in 2019), Andrew Nembhard (their second round pick this summer), and Aaron Nesmith (2020 Celtics lottery pick). Basically, their entire team is young. Hield and T.J. McConnell are 30 years old. Seldom-used James Johnson is 35. They’re the only three players on the roster that’s 30 and over. Turner would be the oldest at 26 after that.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle (who is in his second stint there) has his young team passing. A lot. So the Lakers have to keep up with that ball movement. Indiana’s overall defense is middle of the road but they scrap, claw, and scratch at their opponents. They’re tied for fourth in steals and second in blocks. The Pacers also shoot a lot of threes (third in both makes and attempts). They don’t have the best percentage but the volume itself could be overwhelming.
I mentioned the Lakers having to take care of the ball. Both teams are in the Top 10 for most turnovers so this might get a little sloppy. Also, the Pacers are going to be in the tail end of a back-to-back (the Lakers seem to take on fatigued teams quite a bit), coming off a Sunday loss against the Clippers (Ivica Zubac went for 31 points and 29 rebounds!).
Anthony Davis is listed as questionable but he’s expected to play against the Pacers. Patrick Beverley is about to serve the last game of his three-game suspension so he should be back by Wednesday. The Pacers will be without swingman Chris Duarte. Nembhard has missed the last four games for the Pacers.
Also, I’d like to say that it’s been nice to see the Lakers look more together in recent times. We saw Beverley back up his teammate (that led to his suspension) and LeBron James getting a bloody Westbrook off the scene before he got in further trouble against the Spurs. These might be little things to some basketball critics but we’ve seen a lot of teams do nothing in these instances. This goes a long way for player relationships.
Both teams are coming in hot. As mentioned, the Lakers have won 5 of 6. Before Sunday’s game against the Clips, the Pacers had also won 5 of 6. Lakers fans will be especially tuned in as they observe Turner and Hield. What I’m looking for is the Lakers having a… page-turner on Monday night.
And that they’re hopefully… healed from that horrendous 0-5 start.
