Luka Doncic scores 43 as road weary Lakers hold off late Pacers rally

INDIANAPOLIS — Even LeBron James couldn’t muster the energy needed. With the lane wide open in the final moments of the Lakers’ 137-130 win over the Indiana Pacers, James simply threw a pass to Jake LaRavia. The 24-year-old had hopes of putting the finishing touches on the Lakers’ successful six-game trip.

Tired and shorthanded, the Lakers punctuated their long trip with a fifth victory on Wednesday. Luka Doncic effortlessly scored his league-leading 14th game of the season with 43 points and seven assists.

The NBA’s leading scorer looked ready to settle for his 11th straight 30-point performance — which is tied for the longest such streak in the last 20 years — after the Lakers opened a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but he came back into the game because Indiana, despite the worst record in the NBA, was still pressuring its starters. The Pacers (16-57) trailed by 29 points in the third quarter and cut the deficit to six with 27.9 seconds left.

“I think everyone was a little tired,” Doncic said. “It was a long journey, but we won in the end; that’s what matters.”

The wear and tear of an intense trip in which the first five games all came down to the final minutes did not deter Doncic. He almost outscored the Pacers alone in the first quarter, scoring 21 points as the Pacers trailed 45-28. He threw a lob to Maxi Kleber for a dunk in the third quarter then pumped both fists. Doncic nailed a step-back three from the top of the key, maintained his follow-through and jumped back on one leg.

The Lakers (46-26) played with the struggling Pacers (16-56) for much of the evening. Indiana’s Andrew Nesmith and Pascal Siakam fell over each other while trying to contest a Euro-step layup from James, who then laid on them and pointed at the Pacers players. Nesmith and Siakam could only grimace.

James finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Austin Reaves had 25 points and eight assists. Jaxson Hayes dunk seven times as the center posted his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs.

While players usually hung around until the end of such a long journey, Hayes found some homemade fuel. Hayes stayed with his parents in his hometown of Cincinnati on Monday night following the Lakers’ victory in Detroit. He woke up to a full homemade breakfast from his mother, who piled plates of pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of her son. He scouted out properties he hopes to buy this summer and spent the day with his father. The family made the 1.5-hour drive to Indianapolis and had dinner Tuesday night.

“Best way to end the trip, for sure,” Hayes said with a happy smile.

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, battles Pacers center Jay Huff for a rebound during the first half on Wednesday.

(Michael Conroy/Associated Press)

Hayes brought energy to the short-handed Lakers, who were without Deandre Ayton (back soreness), Marcus Smart (right ankle bruise) and Rui Hachimura (right calf soreness). Smart and Hachimura remain day-to-day as they missed their second straight game while Ayton was ruled out just before the game. Even the reinforcements were shorthanded as rookie Adou Thiero missed the game due to left knee pain.

Thiero, who has been back and forth between the NBA and the G League’s South Bay Lakers, played 29 minutes in a G League game on Saturday and flew directly to Detroit for Monday’s game. He played two minutes against the Pistons, making his first appearance in a first half since Dec. 7, but his knee didn’t feel good the next morning, Redick said. The team held out the forward for precautionary reasons, Redick said, as Thiero has suffered injuries to both knees this season.

The Lakers relied on another part-time G League contributor to get through a sloppy fourth quarter. Bronny James had four points, two steals and a block in 13:22 off the bench. Lakers coach JJ Redick said the second-year guard’s jump at the free-throw line with 3:55 left “was important to kind of calm us down.” That stopped a 6-0 run by the Pacers.

It was only the second game father and son shared the field together this season. Older James had the perfect shirt for the occasion. He came out of the locker room wearing a gray T-shirt with a photo of him and his son on the front. On James’ shoulders, across the back, it read “The Chosen 1.” At the bottom of the shirt it read “The One Who Chose.”

“I felt like it was a game where we really needed him,” Redick said of Bronny James. “It was a game that [we needed] his athleticism, his defense. … I think the biggest thing about him is he has a lot of confidence right now.

The Lakers have won 13 of their last 15 games to move into third place in the competitive Western Conference. They play six of their final nine regular season games at home and, after this grueling stretch, they can’t get there soon enough.

“Do we have to do this?” » Redick said quietly as he sat down for his post-match press conference.

He knew everyone in the room wanted to go home.