The Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers are the best possible matchup for the NBA’s In-Season Tournament final. There are countless plots to choose from. The most glamorous team in the NBA taking on a rising star from a smaller market. LeBron James, the NBA’s oldest superstar, takes on Tyrese Haliburton, the league’s newest. The 2000 Finals, again. Indiana is reliving the playoff nightmares brought on by LeBron for years. Trade rumors for the majority of the previous season. Even the famous statement made by Bennedict Mathurin during James’ rookie season that he would “have to show me he’s better than me” From a narrative perspective, this is an ideal matchup.
Narratives, of course, are limited. This is the ideal In-Season Tournament finale because the stories won’t matter if the game is awful. The Pacers and Lakers never have poor performances. For whatever reason, nearly every fight they have engaged in recently has been noteworthy. The Lakers and Pacers have faced each other ten times since James joined the team in 2018. Single digits decided nine of those games. A particularly fun blowout was the tenth. Therefore, let’s take a look back at the last five years of Lakers vs. Pacers, one of the NBA’s more bizarrely entertaining rivalries, before we watch the Lakers and Pacers battle for the NBA Cup.
2019–20: LeBron’s makeover
When the Lakers faced the Pacers on November 29, 2018, things were starting to turn around. At 11-9, they started the game. In a 104-96 victory, James, who was still getting used to playing with his new, younger teammates, finished with 38 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. It wasn’t particularly exciting overall, but it did provide us with a benchmark for the much more thrilling game on February 5. Naturally, this is a subjective case because the Pacers prevailed in that game by a score of 42 points.
The timing of the game contributes to its lasting memory. The Lakers’ final game of the 2018–19 season was played in Indiana, and the city’s supporters made sure the team would never forget it. As the blowout grew bigger, they began yelling “LeBron’s gonna trade you” at several younger Lakers, including Brandon Ingram.
To be fair to the supporters of Indiana, LeBron did trade Ingram. He succeeded in forming a partnership with Anthony Davis. Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball, and Ingram were the victims of that coalition. The Lakers won a championship thanks to that team, but the humiliation caused by those chants never really went away. or a portion of the subsequent losses.
2019–20: Kryptonite
A fun little fact about the Los Angeles Lakers, the 2019–20 NBA champions, is that, if the playoffs are taken into account, they have defeated every team in the league at least once, with the exception of the annoying Pacers. On December 17, when nobody was defeating the Lakers, the first loss occurred. Los Angeles led the league going into that game, 24-2, and even without Anthony Davis (a motif that will.
2019–20: Kryptonite
A fun little fact about the Los Angeles Lakers, the 2019–20 NBA champions, is that, if the playoffs are taken into account, they have defeated every team in the league at least once, with the exception of the annoying Pacers. On December 17, when nobody was defeating the Lakers, the first loss occurred. Los Angeles was favored in this game even without Anthony Davis (a theme that will continue!), coming into that game on a 24-2 tear through the league.
With numerous lead changes and ties throughout the second half, it came down to the wire. With one minute left, James tied the game at the line. Domantas Sabonis then increased the lead to three points at the foul line after Malcolm Brogdon had put the Pacers ahead once more with a floater. At the buzzer, Rajon Rondo attempted a tie but was unable to make the shot. Heat 102, Pacers 105. At last, the eventual winners appeared mortal.
Eight months later, they looked even worse when they played the Pacers at Disney World. T.J. Warren scorched the Lakers for 39 points to lead the Pacers to a 116-111 victory in the game that started a thousand jersey swaps. The loss sent Lakers supporters into a panic. They were 2-4 in the bubble at that point, and Warren had just outperformed the two Laker stars who were in the same position as him. They managed to rally in the end, but they were never able to defeat the 2019–20 Pacers. It would all be made up for a year later.
This would be the year to skip if you were looking for one. Both games were close, though. Without Davis, the Lakers managed a five-point victory in March thanks to 24 points from Kyle Kuzma, but the more significant of the two games took place in May. In the penultimate game of the regular season against Indiana, James, who had missed 26 of the previous 28 Laker games due to a high-ankle sprain, made a triumphant comeback.
On paper, the results appeared promising. James made 50% of his shots to score 24 points. Lakers victory margin was seven. Everything looked good. When the playoffs finally arrived, it became apparent that defeating Goga Bitadze and Oshae Brissett wasn’t a particularly reliable indicator of who would eventually face.
2021–2022: Increasing the fervor
The Lakers planned to select Chris Duarte, an Oregon guard, with the No. 22 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft if they hadn’t traded for Russell Westbrook. Even if they had retained the pick, they would not have been able to do so because Duarte was selected by the Pacers at the thirteenth pick. On November 24, he used a single shot to support that decision in one game. With less than six seconds left, Duarte’s game-tying prayer was answered, and the Pacers forced overtime against the Lakers, who were down 112-109.
The Pacers didn’t get much out of the extra period. Even though the Lakers prevailed 124-116, the Duarte shot will always stick in the memory of Laker supporters because of what happened next. To put it mildly, it wasn’t the only noteworthy game-ending 3-pointer we will discuss here.
Indiana’s 111-104 victory on January 19 was a forgettable game in terms of basketball. However, one could contend that it was the turning point in the Lakers’ once-exciting season. They were 22-22 going into the game and, once again, without Davis. Their record was.500.
With 3:52 remaining and the Lakers trailing 101-94, Lakers coach Frank Vogel made the contentious choice to take Russell Westbrook off the court in an attempt to close the game with more shooting. The changing area never got back to normal. The Lakers had an 11-27 season finale. Westbrook was benched more frequently in the latter stages of games. In many ways, his time with the Lakers came to an end with that Indiana game. Later, the Pacers would almost be the real reason he left the Lakers.
2022–2023: Absolute and total insanity
The Lakers attempted and failed to trade Westbrook for the entire 2022 offseason. There is only one known instance of them coming close. It was with the Pacers, as you probably guessed or remembered. In exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, Westbrook would have gone to Indiana along with first-round selections in 2027 and 2029. Since the negotiations were so widely known, Turner essentially ran a campaign to join the Laker team.
However, no deal had been finalized by November 28. After starting 2-10, the Lakers had gone 5-2 and appeared to be headed in the right direction. A victory over Indiana and, more crucially, over Hield and Turner would have been somewhat symbolic.
of evidence showing they could endure without pulling off a major trade. That theory was validated by the 17-point advantage they maintained with about ten minutes left. After that, well…
The final ten minutes were won by the Pacers 32–14. In the end, the Pacers were the ones who benefited from the game that was supposed to be symbolic for the Lakers. The trade rumors abruptly ceased. Indiana didn’t want to split up for additional draft picks because they had a successful team. Turner continued into the next season. Furthermore, the Lakers and Pacers’ wildest matchup from the previous season wasn’t even this one.
The Lakers were the ones in need of a major comeback this time. With about 35 seconds left, Anthony Davis’ jumper gave them a 112-111 lead after they had fallen behind by as much as 15 points. Turning around, Davis produced the game’s most impressive defensive play.
Granted, the Lakers aren’t exactly unbeatable, but with 16 seconds left, they should be comfortably ahead. Not quite, as Patrick Beverley failed to make two free throws. That gave Indiana the ball back and the opportunity to win a game at the buzzer against the Lakers for the second time this season. Buddy Hield is putting up the wild, falling out of bounds shot this time.
Given the absurd angle of the shot, Hield approached the target more closely than he should have, but it was only an in-and-out shot. With the victory, the Lakers triumphed.
That concludes our discussion of the Pacers-Lakers rivalry. We’ll pick it up on Saturday with a match that, based on past performances, ought to have very high expectations. There is usually something exciting to happen when the Lakers and Pacers play.
