The Pacers are in La La Land for a two days as they play the LA teams on back to back nights. Tonight's matchup is against Indy's old nemesis LeBron and the Lakers.

The Pacers have won the first two contests in their five-game road trip, playing some of their best basketball of 2024. Against Golden State on Friday, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam once again looked like the dynamic duo everyone envisioned when Siam was traded to Indianapolis. Tyrese Haliburton had 26 points and 11 assists, while Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 16 rebounds on their way to a 123-111 victory at the Chase Center (where the Pacers have never lost).

As one would expect in a Warriors-Pacers game, plenty of amazing shotmaking was on display. To the great relief of Tyrese Haliburton (and Pacers fans everywhere) that shotmaking seemed to be contagious, as he finally broke out of his three point shooting slump. He knocked down four of eight from distance, including two buzzer beaters and a vintage, whirling bomb in transition.

If the old Tyrese is back, the rest of the league needs to watch out. Things have been rough for him since his injury, with his three point percentage dipping to 19% during the 11 game stretch prior to the road trip. As you can see below, the pull up three has remained a huge part of his arsenal even during his slump. Whether that shot falls or not is crucial to his (and our crunch time offense's) effectiveness.

The other major storyline from the Warriors game is that Myles Turner surpassed Jermaine O'Neal as the franchise's all-time leader in blocked shots. Turner did it in style, recording a monster five blocks to go along with a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double.

The Pacers brought in O'Neal to record a nice message for Myles. Hopefully it's a sign that the club will embrace Jermaine more going forward, something it hasn't done enough of since his retirement.

Hopefully Turner comes into tonight's game feeling good. Not only did he just achieve a career milestone, it's his birthday.

Much like the Pacers, the Lakers are fighting for playoff position and have won their last two games. In fact, the Pacers and Lakers helped each other out on Friday. The Warriors are one spot behind the Lakers in the standings and the 76ers, who the Lakers defeated, are nipping at the Pacers' heels.

Over the past two weeks the Lakers have been playing good basketball, posting a +8 points per possession differential. They've been succeeding with efficient offense and average defense. However, in their last game against Philadelphia, it was their defense that made up for an off shooting night. After the game, LeBron said of the victory, "[It was] ugly, but we got the job done... We defended in the second half. They only had 18 in the fourth. That's big-time when the offense was struggling like it was."

The Pacers will be put to the test again tonight at Crypto.com arena. Let's see if their newfound defensive identity and the two-headed monster of Haliburton and Siakam can hold serve in the city of stars.

Injuries

No major injury news for the Pacers at the time of writing.

The Lakers will be without Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood.

How to Watch

Another late one.

Tipoff is at 10:00 PM ET.

TV: Bally Sports Indiana, NBA League Pass

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

See ya in the comments!

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