Los Angeles (AP) — In a 150-145 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers put on their best scoring display in 37 years thanks to 36 points and 16 rebounds from Anthony Davis and 26 points and 10 assists from LeBron James.

In his most offensively prolific game since joining the Lakers, who have won three in a row and five of seven, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 26 points. Indiana scored 46 points in the final quarter to cut the Los Angeles lead to three points. Los Angeles had led 116-99 going into the fourth quarter.

With 10 points in the last minute, Los Angeles managed to hold on, led by six free throws from Austin Reaves, who finished with 25 points, the most points this 17-time NBA champion franchise had scored since January 2, 1987.

“We are familiar with their potent оffensive style because we competed against them in the In-Season Tournament championship,” James remarked. It’s a good win for us because they won’t give up playing no matter how far they fall or how high they rise.

Superstar With 20 seconds remaining, Tyrese Haliburton snapped out of his quiet 12-point effort to dribble twice for three points, cutting the Lakers’ lead to three points. Dinwiddie’s one free throw, Haliburton’s three-point attempt, and Cam Reddish’s steаl of Doug McDermott’s pass with three seconds remaining were enough for LA to survive.

“It was awful defensively, we let them score 145,” Davis remarked. They made a few shots in the closing moments, but as tonight demonstrated, we are capable of attacking in whatever way we choose. However, we must play defense, particularly against a squad like that (that is in difficulty). A win is a win at this point in the season, however we don’t have to give them life. We accept it, but we also need to draw lessons from it.

Rick Carlisle, the coach of Indiana, became irritated after the Lakers made 43 free throws to the Pacers’ 16 while Indiana committed 31 fouls to Los Angeles’ 14.

Carlisle remarked, “I thought our guys really battled in this game.” There were just some obstacles that could not be surmounted. One is a differential of 27 free throws, and the other is a differential of 17 fouls.

After playing terrible defense in the second and third quarters, giving up 86 points to Los Angeles, Pascal Siakam scored 19 of his 36 points in the third quarter to help the Pacers, who fell to 2-1 on their five-game road trip. The Pacers had eight players with double-digit scoring totals: Myles Turner scored 20 points, TJ McConnell with 17, and others.

“When faced with challenging circumstances, it can be simple to let go and declare, ‘Hey, this isn’t our night,’ but our guys don’t do that,” Carlisle stated. In the second half, our second unit engaged in combat. When the first unit returned during the final five minutes, they were determined to stay in the game. You have to perform flawlessly at one point, and it was going to be extremely challenging.

The Lakers won for the first time in six games this season thanks to a strong performance by Dinwiddie in lieu of shooting guard D’Angelo Russell, who was sidelined due to a non-CоVID sickness.

In this clаsh, оffensive fireworks were to be expected. The Pacers overcame a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter in their most recent meeting with the Lakers in November 2022, winning 116-115 thanks to a 3-pointer by Andrew Nembhard at the buzzer.

The Lakers defeated the Pacers 123-109 in Las Vegas to win the first-ever In-Season Tournament in December, and this was the teams’ first meeting since then. The Lakers, who will visit Indiana on Friday, went into a 3-10 slump just after winning the championship. Despite going 22-13 since then, they haven’t been able to finish better than ninth in the Western Conference.

The Lakers faced early difficulties due to Russell’s absence and the Pacers’ quick play, but Davis’ 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half helped to keep the game close. Despite the Lakers’ season-high 116 points through three quarters of play, Siakam held Indiana within striking distance.

Prior to La Albiceleste’s exhibition game on Tuesday at the Coliseum, the majority of Argentina’s national soccer team attended the game.