Lakers score season-low 90 points in road loss to Pacers

INDIANAPOLIS — Maybe any other month of the NBA season, any other moment, and a night like Friday could be written off as an unavoidable occurrence.

When you have 82 games on the schedule — or in the case of the Lakers and the Indiana Pacers, 83 games thanks to the in-season tournament — there are going to be nights when your legs are too heavy, your brain is too foggy and the rims are too tight.

But when you’re where the Lakers were entering Friday, that stuff can’t get in the way.

Needing wins to try to climb out of the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference standings, the Lakers found themselves trying to fight through “one of those nights.”

They missed too many shots, their communication faltered, and their frustration — the Lakers fully aware of the stakes — was obvious.

Austin Reaves balled up a towel and fired it off the bench after a careless turnover led to a Pacers bucket. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell all looked confused after a miscue led to an easy Pacers layup.

And when the final horn sounded, the Lakers’ five-game winning streak snapped with a 109-90 loss, the team had to reckon with a performance that could make their path out of the play-in games and into the playoffs even tougher.

The 90 points were a season low for the Lakers and the first time they were below 100 since Jan. 3.

Davis led the Lakers (41-33) with 24 and 15 rebounds, but the team shot 5 of 29 from 3-point range, with Russell, Reaves and Spencer Dinwiddie combining to make only two of 18 attempts.

James had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but it was mostly low-impact work in a game in which the Lakers never really had any force.

The team plays its fourth game on its current six-game road trip Sunday in Brooklyn, when guard Gabe Vincent could potentially return to the court. He joined the team in Indianapolis and was on the bench in street clothes Friday night.

Pascal Siakam led the Pacers (42-33) with 22 points, while Tyrese Haliburton added 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.