NBA Pacers bury Lakers by 42
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – LeBron James joined a select group of NBA players to score 32,000 career points but nevertheless endured the most lopsided defeat of his career Tuesday as the Indiana Pacers routed the Los Angeles Lakers 136-94.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 24 points for the Pacers, who tied a franchise record with 19 three-pointers.
James, playing his second game since suffering a groin injury in a Christmas Day win over Golden State, led the Lakers with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
On a night of few Lakers highlights, head coach Luke Walton was pleased to see a driving dunk from the fourtime NBA Most Valuable Player.
‘’It was good to see LeBron take off and go dunk one and kind of trust his body,’’ Walton said, although otherwise there was little positive to find in a game that saw 19 Lakers turnovers lead to 33 Pacers points.
‘’Bottom line, we have to be better,’’ said Walton, who said he didn’t know if some of the Lakers players had been adversely affected by trade talk swirling around the team.
Reports this week indicated the Lakers had offered as many as six players in a bid to land New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis by the Thursday transfer deadline.
Fans in Indianapolis rubbed in the rumors, yelling ‘’LeBron’s going to trade you’’ at Lakers guard Brandon Ingram as he went to the free throw line.
‘’That’s just fans being fans,’’ James said. ‘’If you let that bother you, you’re in the wrong sport.’’
Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors, chasing the Milwaukee Bucks for first place in the Eastern Conference, overcame the 76ers 119-107 in Philadelphia.
Joel Embiid scored 14 of his gamehigh 37 points in the fourth quarter to help the Sixers cut a 21-point deficit to seven points with 3:47 left to play, but Philadelphia would get no closer.