Pacers give LeBron the biggest defeat of his career
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — With LeBron James in town, you can always expect quality entertainment. But on Tuesday night, it was the home team putting on the show. The Pacers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 136-94 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for their third straight victory.
The Lakers may have been lifeless amid the trade rumors swirling around their team, but the Pacers still put on a clinic and deserve credit for that.
Indiana connected on 19 3’s, tying their franchise record. They also handed LeBron James the largest defeat of his career.
“The execution was there,” said Head Coach Nate McMillan. “Defensively, we didn’t give them anything easy. For us, it was about playing better than the last time we saw these guys.”
“It was a good team win,” added Myles Turner. “I loved seeing the Laker fan’s faces when we were winning like that.”
After the injury to Victor Oladipo, the Pacers lost four straight games and were struggling to find their identity. Since then? They’ve looked like themselves again. Now at 35-19 on the season and with several home games coming up, things feel a lot different than just a week ago.
There were too many positives to only name a few. So let’s go down the list:
Myles Turner- 22 points in 22 minutes on 9-of-12 shooting, and four blocks.
Bojan Bogdanovic- Scored the first 10 points of the game for the Pacers, and finished with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
Aaron Holiday- 17 points in 22 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting.
Edmond Sumner- Career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
Thad Young- Just two assists shy of a triple-double. He finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.
The Lakers defense- They allowed the Pacers to shoot 57% on the night, including 19-of-34 from 3-point range.
“I feel like they didn’t miss tonight,” said Lance Stephenson, making his return to Indianapolis. “It was great playing for these fans again. I wish we would’ve won, but it was good to be back.”
Maybe the most impressive stat of the night? The Pacers dished out 37 assists. They had 21 of them in the first half and assisted on nine of their first 11 makes. That’s the kind of unselfish play that has brought them to a 35-19 record.
When you can beat LeBron James, win by 42 points and still get a good glimpse of the future with your young guys…. I’d call it a good night.
