Lakers newsletter: How a free throw turned LeBron James' night around and led to a win
INDIANAPOLIS — Hey everyone, I'm Dan Woike and welcome to The Times' Lakers Newsletter, where we check in every week on a team that's had such a strange season, it retired an entire set of uniforms because it thought they were bad luck.
True story!
Anyways, LeBron James capped an eventful trip to Indiana with a buzzer-beater against the Pacers.
Wednesday in Indiana, for the Lakers to win, they had to get lucky. It's the part of basketball that no one wants to put much weight behind because it's the part of basketball that you have the least control over.
You can evoke the 'basketball gods' like JJ Redick has and you can slam the scorer's table and stomp your feet when teams do things to tempt them. But ultimately, basketball agnosticism is the safer bet. Any invisible hand that impacts the game is created by smaller decisions along the way that mysteriously, or in this case not so mysteriously, play a role in the outcome.
Against the Pacers, James did everything to get those basketball gods on his side — talking on defense, cleaning up possessions on the glass, finding the open man and never pressing after his shots didn't fall.
For the first time in his career, James played the first three quarters of a game without making a field goal, all six of his attempts coming up empty.
He went on to make huge shots in the fourth quarter, including the biggest, a last-second, buzzer-beating tip-in to give his team the win after he built the lead early in the fourth by scoring eight straight points.
But did the basketball gods turn to his favor because of his defensive effort and playmaking for others? Or was there another factor at play?
With 3:38 left in the third quarter, James pounded the ball and forced Indiana into a three-second violation. Luka Doncic walked toward the line, almost like he was going to take the free throw, but told James, who was 0 for 6 from the field, to shoot it instead.
He swished it, got into rhythm to start the fourth quarter and when the game needed it, put himself in position to make the big play.
After the game, James acknowledged to The Times that the free throw was an important moment, a chance for him to see the ball go in the basket for the first time in the second half and just the third time all game (he made two free throws in the second quarter).
That wasn't luck — that was thoughtfulness and understanding of what the moment required.
Luck was that when the Pacer whistled for the three-second violation, Aaron Nesmith, tried to step out of the paint to reset the count, he misjudged it and kept his foot in the lane.
Luck was the Pacers having two three-point shots overturned after it was pretty obvious they were taken with a foot on the line.
Luke was Doncic's floater trickling off the rim and into James' fingertips with two-tenths of a second left, just enough for him to tip the ball into the basket.
None of this is to say that the Lakers didn't deserve their win; they absolutely did. They played with more purpose, more consistency and created all kinds of great opportunities. It's probably bad luck that Austin Reaves missed a pair of really open fourth-quarter threes.
But it's undoubtedly good luck that the Lakers caught these breaks and made these plays, the team badly needing some good news as it enters the final 10 games of the regular season Thursday in Chicago.
It was good for the Lakers to be reminded that they can do enough to pick up a big win on the road, that they could create enough advantages to embrace the randomness that basketball produces.
Friko – Where We've Been (FRET12 Session)
Have I used this song already? Maybe, but definitely not this performance by one of the most exciting bands from Chicago in a minute. This is like a group of kids found a stack of Radiohead CDs. There are better songs about Chicago, and whenever I go back there near my hometown, I'll always listen to them. But this song FROM Chicago will be on my phone Thursday as I'm in the city, no question.
Lakers can't find a way to talk through their defensive issues in loss to Magic
Lakers' Bronny James scores career-high 39 points in G League game: 'I belong out there'
LeBron James returns from injury, but Lakers look lost in blowout loss to Bulls
Stephen A. Smith: 'I might have been wrong' about Bronny James' NBA readiness
Bronny James credits focus on his game for career-best 17 points during loss to Bucks
Luka Doncic's hot first quarter sparks Lakers to win over shorthanded Nuggets
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