LeBron James, Darvin Ham on Lakers’ lack of energy versus the Pacers

After the Lakers lost to the Pacers on Friday, LeBron James and Darvin Ham admitted the team simply didn’t have its usual pop.

Over the last couple of seasons, every time it seemed the Los Angeles Lakers were building positive momentum, they found a way to stop it.

They took a five-game winning streak into the Midwest on Friday and took on the Indiana Pacers, a team they had defeated fairly easily in two previous meetings this season. But after scoring a season-high 150 points on Sunday, they could only muster a season-worst 90 points and lost by 19.

Los Angeles couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from 3-point range, and it only scored 39 second-half points after trailing by just five at halftime.

There was nothing necessarily wrong with the team’s effort. But something was simply missing, and LeBron James said it simply didn’t have the same energy in its third game in four nights.

Head coach Darvin Ham seemed to agree while reiterating the importance of the Lakers playing up-tempo basketball, something they didn’t consistently do on Friday.

The Lakers’ next three games will be against sub-.500 opponents in the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards, but none of them will be easy. The Nets defeated them easily in January, while the Raptors and Wizards gave them all they could handle before losing by a combined four points.