Beating LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers might not mean what it used to in the NBA, but the Indiana Pacers were still keen to milk their win as much as possible after their convincing victory on Friday night.
The Pacers strolled to a 109-90 win against the Lakers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, to take their season record to 42-33, placing them sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers to victory with 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, while Tyrese Haliburton added 21 points and eight rebounds and assists each.
Anthony Davis had 24 points and 15 rebounds in the loss, and it proved to be an off night for James, who had just 16 points plus 10 rebounds and eight assists to speak for himself.
But it wasn’t LeBron who was the target of Indiana’s trolling – this time, they took on the Lakers fans who made the 2,100-mile trip to Indiana.
In what was clearly a planned post, the Pacers camera turned its focus to Lakers fans in the crowd and filmed them with a crying filter on their faces, producing some hilarious results.
The tweet, sent from the official Pacers account on X – formerly Twitter – read: “Sending Lakers fans home tonight,” with a crying emoji placed next to it.
There has been no activity on the Lakers account since announcing the result of the game, but it seems unlikely that such a barb will go unanswered.
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Lakers struggles laid bare by ‘King’ James
Their 90 points in Indiana represented a season-low for the Lakers, who remain in ninth position in the Western Conference. It’s also the first time they went below the 100-point mark since January 3.
And their poor form has clearly had an impact on four-time NBA champion James, 39, who made no excuses after the game for their 33rd defeat of the campaign.
“Offensively we didn’t have it going. Obviously we shot horribly from the three,” James said after the game. “We’ve been shooting the ball exceptionally well from the outside over the last few months. Just tonight, we didn’t have it.”
On the Lakers‘ recent busy schedule, he replied: “You got to be able to focus and play through it and understand it’s three [games] in four nights, but it’s no excuse.”