Here are the scores, updates, and results of the NBA 2020-2021 regular season match between the Indiana Pacers (IND) vs the Los Angeles Lakers (LAL) on May 16, 2021 (All times are in Philippine Standard Time) at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Indiana Pacers and prolonged their hopes of not playing in the play-in tournament.
LeBron James returned in this game after missing a couple of Laker games. “The King” tallied 24 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds for his team.
“It is going to take time to get his timing back to 100%, but for most of the game he looked good,” Vogel shared. “He looked like his old self again.”
James claimed that he felt good in this matchup compared to the last time when he came back to play for the Lakers.
“It felt a lot better than the last time I came back,” James shared. “I felt good coming into the game. I think each game I’ll get better and better. It will take a few games to get it all back. It’s up to coach and training staff if I play (Sunday).”
With 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists, Anthony Davis led the Lakers with an outstanding display in terms of his prowess to score. Not only that, but the big man also shot 9-18 after playing for 36 minutes.
“I felt great the entire time,” Davis said. “It’s nice to get the whole team back out there.”
If the Lakers will win on Sunday at New Orleans and if Portland loses to Denver on that day also, the Lakers will be on the number six spot in the Western Conference and will avoid the play-in tournament.
Dennis Schroder also returned in this game, scoring 14 points and had 4 dimes. In addition, he also stole 2 possessions from the Pacers.
“KCP” added 13 points while Talen Horton-Tucker had 11 points. Andre Drummond finished with a double-double performance as he scored 11 points and had 15 boards. Furthermore, the big man of the Lakers also had 2 big blocks on the Pacers.
Meanwhile, the short-handed Pacers had a tough game against the defending champions as they trailed for most of the game.
Their skilled big man, Domantas Sabonis, was not able to play today due to a bruised left quadriceps while Aaron Holiday had a sprained toe.
Caris LeVert stepped up, knowing that their most relied player is not able to play today. At the end of the game, LeVert scored 28 points, 12 assists, and had five rebounds. Unfortunately, he was not careful with handling the ball as he had 7 turnovers. JaKarr Sampson had an excellent game, but it was not enough to outscore the opposing team. Sampson added 20 points in 9-13 shooting while only playing for 20 minutes for his squad.
“JaKarr played one heck of game,” Bjorkgren, the head coach of the Pacers shared. “He was really aggressive and really physical. He was playing as hard as he can.”
The Los Angeles Lakers improve to 41-30 while the Pacers drop to 33-38.
Pacers vs Lakers
21-23; 32-28; 29-32; 22-23
The scores:
Pacers (115) – LeVert 28, Sampson 20, McDermott 17, Martin 15, Holiday 12
Lakers (122) – Davis 28, James 24, Schroder 14, Caldwell-Pope 13, Drummond 11