Los Angeles Lakers [34-11] @ Indiana Pacers [16-29]
| Wednesday, January 27, 2010 | Indianapolis, Indiana| Conseco Fieldhouse| 7:00 pm ET |
| TV: FSIN, NBA TV, FSW | Radio: WIBC 1070
GAME PREVIEW
******* Out of town fans, watch the game on *******
Kobe Bryant(notes) hit the game-winning jumper in the Los Angeles Lakers’ previous matchup with the Indiana Pacers.
Bryant and the Lakers, though, failed to close out the Pacers in their last visit to Conseco Fieldhouse.
The Western Conference-leading Lakers will try to win two straight on the road for the first time in more than a month Wednesday night when they face Indiana for the first time this season.
Bryant hit a game-winning 18-foot turnaround jumper with three seconds left as the Lakers defeated the visiting Pacers 121-119 on Jan. 9, 2009. The two-time scoring champ, though, couldn’t knock down a shot with 14 seconds remaining in Indiana on Dec. 2, 2008 that would have given Los Angeles a three-point cushion.
The Pacers took advantage of Bryant’s miss and completed a 16-point fourth-quarter rally to win 118-117 on Troy Murphy’s(notes) tip-in as time expired.
Los Angeles (34-11), which has lost five of its last six in Indianapolis, improved to 2-2 on its eight-game, 12-day trip with a 115-103 victory over Washington on Tuesday. The Lakers had dropped six of eight on the road since winning five straight away games from Dec. 15-26.
Link- http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid ... 11&prov=ap
PACERS TEAM REPORT
The Pacers are 13 games below .500 and have had losing streaks of eight, six, four and three games this season.
But for some reason they continue to talk about the playoffs.
Why?
It's because they play in the Eastern Conference, where even the bad teams are rarely eliminated from playoff contention before the middle of March.
"We'll go on a stretch where we lose two or three games, then we'll win two or three games. If we can win three games and lose one or maybe two and keep going that way, we'll build ourselves into the playoffs," forward Danny Granger said.
The Pacers have a tough road ahead of them if they expect to get into the mix. Their next two games are against the Lakers and Cleveland, the two best teams in the NBA.
"We've got to stay consistent on both ends of the court," guard Brandon Rush said. "On some nights, we play better on offense. Some nights we're better on defense, but we have to be more consistent. That's coming focused with the mindset that we have to play our type of game, getting up and down the floor and defending."
The one thing the Pacers do have in their favor is that only two of their next eight games are on the road.
"Winning on the road -- that's going to be key for this team," guard Earl Watson said. "Our road record has been getting better, but it's not where it needs to be and you have to win on the road to get to the playoffs in addition to taking care of home, too."
Link- http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/ind/report
LAKERS TEAM REPORT
The Lakers are set to visit the White House for the first time since 2002.
The White House will play host Monday afternoon to a meeting between the Lakers and President Barack Obama, who is a big basketball fan but has never greeted a defending NBA champion team.
The Lakers visited the White House only once during the span of their 2000-02 three-peat, after their second championship. They met President George W. Bush then.
The Lakers got a warmup for a presidential gathering Friday night in New York when former President Bill Clinton was on hand as part of an initiative to donate money to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Lakers guard Derek Fisher, who campaigned for Obama to win the presidency, shared a long embrace with Clinton at halftime. Both have Arkansas roots.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson estimated he went to the White House four times for his six championships coaching the Chicago Bulls.
Link- http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/lal/report
THE COACHES
vs. 
THE STARTERS
PACERS
Points- Granger 23.6, Murphy 14, Dunleavy 12
Rebounds- Murphy 349
Assists- Watson 191
Blocks- Rush 35
LAKERS
Points- Bryant 28.3, Gasol 17.1, Bynum 15.5
Rebounds- Odom 435
Assists- Bryant 204
Blocks- Bynum 69
RESERVES
PACERS
LAKERS
KEY MATCH UP
THE TRADITION
GO COLTS
(I'm not a Colts fan but this is for all the Colts fans i've met over the years being a Pacers fan!)
