The Los Angeles Lakers went into Tuesday night’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers riding a 14-game road winning streak that dated back to opening night, when they lost “on the road” to the Los Angeles Clippers. Since then, they hadn’t dropped a game outside of Staples Center, which was a big factor in their hot start. 

But with both Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma missing the contest due to ankle injuries, it was clear that streak was in jeopardy. As it turned out, those absences were indeed too much to overcome, as the Pacers secured an exciting 105-102 victory that was one of their best of the 2019-20 campaign. With the loss, the Lakers dropped to 24-4 on the season, which has them tied with the Bucks — who they play on Thursday night — for the best record in the league.

Early on, LeBron James seemed intent on leading the Lakers to the win despite the injuries. He was terrific to start the game, and put on a show in the process with a number of highlight-reel worthy plays, including a behind-the-head pass to Dwight Howard that might be one of the best assists anyone dishes out all season. 

The Pacers bounced back from an early 10-point deficit, though, and things were pretty competitive the rest of the way; to wit, neither team ever led by more than 10 points. Late in the fourth, the Lakers were clinging to a five-point lead, but saw it quickly erased by a mini 5-0 run by Malcolm Brogdon, who continues to excel in his first season with the Pacers. 

From there, the two teams traded free throws until Brogdon made another big layup with just over 30 seconds to play that put the Pacers up by two. After a missed 3 by LeBron, and one missed free throw from Domantas Sabonis, the Pacers were up by three with 10 seconds to play, and the Lakers had the ball. 

They had plenty of time to try and tie the game, but couldn’t get what they were looking for and Rajon Rondo was forced to launch a deep 3 from nearly 30 feet. It almost went down, but rimmed out, and the Pacers escaped with the win. 

The injuries to Davis and Kuzma were key to the loss for a number of reasons, besides just the simple fact that Davis is one of the best players in the league. For one, the Lakers, were outrebounded in the game, 43-42, and had a hard time dealing with the effort of the Pacers. Led by Sabonis, Indiana secured 13 offensive boards, which they converted into 17 second-chance points. Davis, of course, is one of the best rebounders in the league, and is a big reason why the Lakers have been at the top of the charts in crashing the glass this season.

In addition, the Lakers struggled from the outside, which is an area where Kuzma could have been quite useful. The swingman is shooting 36 percent from downtown this season, a mark that’s good enough for fourth on the team among regular rotation players. He may not be an elite shooter, but it certainly would have helped the Lakers to have another shooting option out there as they went 8-of-31 from 3-point land. 

Even still, the Lakers had a good chance to win, and probably would have if they were able to knock down some free throws in the fourth quarter. As a team, they went just 4-of-10 from the stripe in the final frame, and at one point missed four straight while trying to maintain their late lead. 

So on the one hand, it’s encouraging for the Lakers that they were right there on the road without one of their two superstars, but on the other, it’s pretty disappointing to lose after missing so many clutch-time free throws. But with a primetime showdown against the Bucks coming up on Thursday night, they have little time to dwell on this loss.