Lakers News: LeBron James Acknowledges Perfect Storm Behind Fourth Quarter Collapse Vs. Pacers
Your Los Angeles Lakers have a heck of a December in front of them.
Which is all the more reason that the team kind of had to nab a win on Monday against the Pacers at home, a game in which L.A. led by as much as 17 points early in the fourth quarter. Of course, they failed to do, dropping a 116-115 heartbreaker in the final seconds of regulation as rookie reserve guard Andrew Nembhard nailed an open triple.
Why was he open? L.A. had apparently ignored the scouting report on Nembhard, who to that point had gone 3-of-6 from long range. Los Angeles star forward LeBron James was the closest defender to Nembhard, but he slid over to cover the 6'5" Gonzaga product far too late when point guard Tyrese Haliburton dished the ball out to him with a shade under two seconds to spare:
After the game, James reflected on how the team coughed up its 17-point advantage, what happened to give Nembhard a wide-open triple look, and how the team intends to learn from the loss.
"We messed up the coverage to start, and that's how Myles Turner was able to get the [first, missed] open three," James noted of the final losing play. "So that's why we were in scramble mode after that, even with them getting the offensive rebound, we should've [come] up with the... rebound. I mean it hit off the front of the rim and flew back all the way to the three-point line... We had two on the ball at that time, I think [Dennis Schroder] and [Austin Reaves were] on the ball. AD had two [players he was covering], I was playing two. Haliburton found a shooter weak-side, I got out [for] a good contest, but NBA players, they make shots like that. So you give credit."
"Everything has to go wrong for you to lose a game like that and everything went wrong," James told gathered reporters. "You tip your hat off to Indiana. They kept fighting, they kept pushing. Haliburton is a really, really dynamic point guard, really good, very cerebral out there. They took the game from us. Give them credit."
"You respond to it exactly how you respond to a win: get into the film room the next day and see what you could do better," James added. "Got another good game on Wednesday, versus another very good team in Portland. You come out and you execute."
