The Lakers closed out their road trip with a great win.
The Los Angeles Lakers closed out their six-game road trip on a high note Wednesday night, beating the Indiana Pacers 137-130 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse behind another huge performance from Luka Doncic and contributions up and down the roster.
The win pushed the Lakers to 47-26 on the season while Indiana dropped to 16-57, and it capped off what might have been the most important stretch of the year for a team that has real playoff expectations.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick kept his assessment short and to the point when asked about his team's energy on both ends of the floor.
"I thought our activity was great," Redick said.
And he was right, because the Lakers forced 18 turnovers, picked up 15 steals and dominated the paint 70-54 in a game they controlled from the opening tip.
Doncic Sets the Tone Early
It started with Doncic, who dropped 21 points in the first quarter alone and finished with 43 points, six rebounds and seven assists in another MVP-caliber outing.
He is averaging 33.4 points per game this season along with 7.9 rebounds and 8.3 assists, and at this point in the year he is playing some of the best basketball of his career.
Redick pointed to Doncic's shot-making as something that opened everything up for the rest of the group, and the numbers back that up.
Austin Reaves added 25 points and eight assists while Jaxson Hayes turned in 21 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the year, giving the Lakers exactly the kind of balanced scoring night they needed to close a long trip.
LeBron James came close to a triple-double with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, continuing his efficient late-season run and proving once again that he and Doncic can coexist at an extremely high level.
The whole thing comes at a good time too, because the Lakers have now won 13 of their last 15 games and are firmly in the third seed in the Western Conference with nine games left to play.
Bronny Gets His Chance
One of the quieter storylines from the night was Bronny James getting meaningful minutes in a game where the Lakers were without Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Marcus Smart.
The second-year guard played 13 minutes and contributed four points, one rebound, one assist, two steals and a block, and while the stat line is modest, Redick spoke highly of what he brought defensively.
Bronny is shooting 41.4 percent from three this season, a big jump from his rookie year, and Redick said his confidence has grown a lot thanks to a strong run with the South Bay Lakers in the G League.
"He's gotten significantly better," Redick said. "Our staff has a lot of confidence in him. Felt like this was a game where we really needed him."
The Lakers head home now after going 5-1 on the trip, which included wins over the Rockets, Magic, Knicks and Hornets along with the one loss in Detroit.
They host the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, and the vibe around this team feels different than it did a few months ago.
The chemistry is real, the roles are defined and the confidence is building at exactly the right time heading into the postseason.