it appeared the Pacers might get the upper hand<\/a> on their old nemesis.<\/p>\nThey\u2019d held him to 0-for-6 shooting with three points through the first three quarters, forcing the ball out of his hands as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves delivered points. Suddenly, statisticians were checking James\u2019 lowest single-game field goal totals and reflecting on his last single-digit game, an eight-point effort against Milwaukee on Jan. 5, 2007.<\/p>\n
But just as it seemed history might be made as the Pacers charged back from a 17-point deficit to close to 95-92 after three quarters, James re-emerged.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I know I can score the ball,\u201d he said. \u201cBut until we find a little rhythm offensively or whatever the case may be, the defensive side is the most important for our ballclub.\u201d<\/p>\n
James made his first basket 49 seconds into the fourth quarter. His next one came 37 seconds later. That was followed by two free throws and a driving layup to give him 11 points and the Lakers a 105-92 lead with roughly 9 1\/2 minutes to play.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t last.<\/p>\n
The Pacers charged back two more times, retaking the lead for the final time on Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s three-point play with 42.2 seconds to go. That gave Indiana a 119-118 lead, putting the struggling Lakers in danger of losing their fourth straight.<\/p>\n
James refused to let it happen, though, as Doncic took a midrange shot that bounced off the rim with the clock about to expire. And then, out of nowhere, came James.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to read the ball off the rim,\u201d James said. \u201cIt kind of looked like it was a little short, but I knew it had a chance to bounce in if it hit the front rim. Once it came out, I kind of wanted to tap it with enough time. Obviously, you could probably see me looking over at the JumbTron to see if I actually got it in time and it was a good play for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet another frustrating chapter in the Pacers rivalry with James, who twice eliminated the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals during his time with Miami and twice more in the first round after he returned to Cleveland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever been walked off in the NBA), so probably fitting\u201d Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said after chatting with James following the game. \u201cIt was obviously a great play by a great player.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 LeBron James started the fourth quarter Wednesday in danger of failing to extend his NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[1013,7,579,588,113,126,3866,185,150,368,6,446,11,114,66,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-203581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-ca-state-wire","11":"tag-in-state-wire","12":"tag-indiana","13":"tag-indiana-pacers","14":"tag-indianapacers","15":"tag-lebron-james","16":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","17":"tag-luka-doncic","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-nba-basketball","20":"tag-nba-playoffs","21":"tag-pacers","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-tyrese-haliburton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114943694174488805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}