Pacers vs. Lakers Preview and Game Thread

Nov 29, 2022 - 2:25 AM

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The Indiana Pacers (11-8) complete their Crypto.com Arena back-to-back when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.

For Pacers fans back home in Indiana, this Monday night tilt will take them into Tuesday morning with the late local tip time. Hopefully, the Pacers fare better at night than they did during the afternoon start on Sunday against the Clips when they missed far more than they made and struggled to track down rebounds after all of those misses.

Playing the Lakers at night will have a far different vibe than playing the Clippers on Sunday afternoon, so the Pacers should get plenty of juice from the atmosphere. Not to mention, any game involving LeBron James, who is expected to play, will have all of the Pacers on point whether they want to be traded to his team or just want to measure their game.

But it doesn’t matter where or who the Pacers play, if they don’t shoot better from 20 percent from three on 40-plus attempts, they will struggle to keep up with any team in the league. Against the Clips, only the struggling Jalen Smith showed up well shooting the rock, take away his numbers and things were really clanking, including a 1 for 9 effort from three by Buddy Hield. Something tells me, the Pacers will bounce back with a better effort against the Lakers.

Will it be enough though? The Lakers have found their stride of late, winning 5 of their last 6 games. Anthony Davis is questionable, so his status will obviously be key to the final outcome, since when he plays, AD is averaging over 26 points and almost 13 rebounds per game. Oh, and LeBron remains a monster in year 20. Injury forced LBJ to miss 6 of the Lakers’ 18 games, but he has played in the past two games and when he plays simply averages almost 26 points, 9 rebounds and over 6 assists.

DraftKings Odds: Pacers -3.5, O/U 238 (latest DraftKings odds here)

When: 10:30 p.m. ET

Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA

TV: Bally Sports Indiana/Bally Sports + app

Radio: 93.5 FM/107.5 FM

Projected Starting Lineups:

Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nesmith, Buddy Hield, Jalen Smith, Myles Turner

Lakers: Dennis Schröder, Lonnie Walker IV, Tony Brown Jr., LeBron James, Anthony Davis

Injury update:

IND: Andrew Nembhard - questionable (left knee bruise), Chris Duarte - out (left ankle sprain), Daniel Theis - out (right knee surgery)

LAL: LeBron James - probable (left adductor strain), Anthony Davis - questionable (left calf contusion), Patrick Beverley - out (league suspension)

Please share your thoughts and observations on the game in the comments.