The Los Angeles Lakers will meet the Indiana Pacers at Crypto.com Arena for their first regular season game tomorrow. But this isn’t exactly their first meeting as avid basketball fans would remember the epic finale of the inaugural In-Season Tournament. The Purple & Gold defeated Indiana much to the surprise of everyone to clinch the first-ever IST trophy in NBA history. Now as both teams meet at 10:00 PM ET on Sunday, the Lakers might be missing key players, namely LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

After a dominant game against the 76ers on Friday, James had mentioned his persistent ankle issues in the post-game presser. And it’s the same problem that has him on the injury report for the Pacers clash. The latest update on Bron has him on the ‘Questionable’ list.

Alongside the forward, AD also makes the injury report, except that he is listed as ‘Probable’ with an Achilles injury. Davis was a major reason for LA’s in-season victory. He dominated the game with 41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks as the Lakers took home the win. Barring injuries, Davis has continued with his impressive performance throughout the season.

Seeing how the Lakers are desperately trying to claim a spot in the play-in and in the best-case scenario, get a straight ticket to the playoffs, LeBron James had pointed out that there was no room for error going forward. The Lakers are 38-32 in the Western Conference, holding the ninth position. The Pacers, for their part, are better positioned after a recent comeback from Tyrese Haliburton‘s shooting slump. They rank sixth in the East with a 40-31 record.

Takeaways for LeBron James and Co. after a win against the Embiid-less 76ers

On the outside, the Lakers won 101-94 against Philly. But a closer look and we will find necessary improvements to make as they go against the revamped Pacers. With just 12 games left for the playoffs, it’s natural that the Purple & Gold would play every game with absolute urgency. But last night’s matchup lacked the finesse they showed during the Hawks game on Monday.

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LA finished the night with 21 turnovers while shooting just 43.8% from the field. Not to mention, bad shot selection, 8 missed free throws, and poor rebounding. The Sixers closely followed the Lakers throughout the night, until it came to the fourth quarter. By then, the team turned to LeBron James and AD to pull them over the edge and that’s what they did.

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But if their two stars do decide to sit out the Pacers game, they cannot repeat the aforementioned mistakes. It remains no doubt that Haliburton and his squad will be keeping an eagle eye on any errors to capitalize on them.