{"id":677268,"date":"2026-03-24T23:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T23:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/677268\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T23:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T23:25:15","slug":"pacers-get-fresh-start-vs-lakers-with-record-skid-over-field-level-media-professional-sports-content-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/677268\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers get fresh start vs. Lakers with record skid over – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The slate has been wiped clean ahead of Wednesday\u2019s meeting in Indianapolis, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers collide after both saw their recent streaks come to an end.<\/p>\n

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle implored his players to \u201cmake a stand\u201d after crashing to a 16th consecutive loss \u2014 a franchise record \u2014 and the Pacers did just that with a drought-breaking 128-126 victory over the host Orlando Magic on Monday.<\/p>\n

Pascal Siakam scored 37 points before producing the clutch defensive play of the game when he blocked Paolo Banchero\u2019s drive at the buzzer, which would have sent the game into overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had not been playing well,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cThe game (Saturday) in San Antonio was very disappointing for all of us. We talked about it (Monday) morning that we needed to make a stand and raise our level of collective will of how we\u2019re competing. Guys did it, led by the veterans \u2014 Pascal, Andrew (Nesmith) and Aaron (Nembhard). It was a great game. It felt like a playoff-type game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana (16-56) had led by 12 deep in the fourth period before narrowly surviving a late Orlando rally.<\/p>\n

It was the Pacers\u2019 first win since Feb. 11, before the All-Star Game that featured Siakam, who is averaging a team-best 24.0 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the position we\u2019re in, we need to play as much meaningful basketball as we can, because we know we\u2019re not going to be in the playoffs,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cThis was an important game at an important time \u2026 We hadn\u2019t won a game in a while. We needed this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers (46-26) had won nine straight \u2014 their best run since 2020 \u2014 before being edged 113-110 in Detroit on Monday.<\/p>\n

Luka Doncic \u2014 the league\u2019s leading scorer, averaging 33.4 points \u2014 posted 32 against the Pistons, but missed two key shots down the stretch.<\/p>\n

The Slovenian superstar was unsuccessful with a go-ahead pullup from 13 feet, before Daniss Jenkins\u2019 two free throws at the other end put Detroit up by three.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles called for time and LeBron James\u2019 long inbound caught a deflection before ending with Doncic, who missed a tough 3-pointer over Jalen Duren to level it at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

Despite the setback, Lakers coach JJ Redick liked how his team rallied after the Pistons had stormed ahead by 16 in the third period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel like we were going to break,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWe made the adjustment at halftime to switch one through five. That was helpful in slowing them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 cause wasn\u2019t helped by the absence of regular starters Marcus Smart (ankle) and Rui Hachimura (calf). Smart is doubtful to play Wednesday and Hachimura is questionable.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur winning streak also coincided with us being healthy,\u201d Redick said. \u201c(Monday), Smart and Rui were out. Not having Smart killed us. It\u2019s important for us that we can get healthy and play our rotation. Post-Luke (Kennard) trade, when all nine guys have played, we\u2019ve been a good basketball team. We need to finish the season strong, but we also need to finish the season healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

LeBron James endured a rare scoreless first half but still impacted the game, finishing just shy of a triple double \u2014 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey play extremely hard, extremely fast and they\u2019re super well-coached,\u201d James said of the Pacers. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be ready for that. It\u2019s our last game of the road trip. I know everybody\u2019s trying to get home, but we\u2019ve got business to take care of. We\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Field Level Media<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The slate has been wiped clean ahead of Wednesday\u2019s meeting in Indianapolis, where the Los Angeles Lakers and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,6,114],"class_list":{"0":"post-677268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pacers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116286740823225260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677268","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=677268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}