With the news that Anthony Davis would be out for at least two more weeks with injuries to the Achilles tendon and calf and Alex Caruso coming out in the first half with a head injury, the Lakers needed all the help they could to win the Indiana Pacers in one night they didn’t have much to offer offensively during most of the first three quarters.
In the fourth period, the Lakers had the explosion they needed. LeBron James returned to the game, and a lineup with him, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Wesley Matthews and Dennis Schröder pulled out a series of 12-2 to retake the lead and give the Lakers something they didn’t get enough of this season: Some help of your reserves.
The result? A difficult 105-100 victory, which broke a two-game losing streak and allowed the Lakers to start the second half of the season with a much-needed victory.
Kuzma had a genuinely excellent game off the bench, scoring the team’s best score with 24 points and hitting timely shots in the fourth period to help the Lakers close the gap between them and the Pacers before taking the lead. His defensive rebounds (10 in the night and 13 rebounds in total) were also critical to ending possession and helping the Lakers speed up the pace.
He missed a shot with seconds missing that would have taken the Pacers’ chance to tie things up and send this game into overtime, but given that they won, it hardly seems like anything to criticize him too much on a night when he was so excellent, especially when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope immediately came up with a Klutch clutch theft and free throws to end this right away.
Kuzma also gave us an instant quote from the candidate of the year after the game.
So, to recap, Kuz, in LeBron finding him for that corner three.
“We were looking at each other for the entire possession. I was practically screwing him to pass the ball to me. He found me and I kicked him.”
– Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) March 13, 2021
Harrell also once again brought invaluable energy to Los Angeles, finishing almost everything around the edge to score 17 points in 8-11 shots, and even playing some key bottom line defense to end the night with 3 blocks. The Lakers will need more nights like this one while Davis is away. James said after the game that the team had not specifically asked him to increase his score with Davis out, but that they did not need to.
“Some things don’t even have to be said,” said James. “We all have to intensify the absence of AD, and Trezz did it tonight at both ends. Especially in that fourth period, he stood out offensively and we needed that push. We had some rooms where we didn’t kick well, we weren’t kicking, but we hung our hat in our defense and then Trezz kicked off the fourth time, and that was great.
He also said that he thinks Harrell is getting more comfortable on both ends of the floor.
“You have to realize, though, that this is just like Trezz’s game 37 with us. It’s a whole new system, a whole new team. He’s learning us. He played so many games with the Clippers and knew the system in and out with those guys for years, ”said James. “He is getting better and better with every game and we will continue to need his energy and effort on both ends of the court.”
And his team needed all of that, because although it was a lie to say that James was bad this one – he wasn’t – was far from his best game of the season. He finished with 18 points in 5-13 pitches, and although he is still the electrical system that powers this Lakers machine, he definitely got a boost from the backup generators on this occasion.
The Lakers are now 25-13 and will have two days off before receiving the Golden State Warriors on Monday. See you there.
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