Los Angeles @ Indiana preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2018 ) Indiana 86, L.A. Lakers 99

Back-to-back tight losses to fellow Eastern Conference playoff contenders knocked the Indiana Pacers out of the No. 3 spot in the East, but a stretch with three of four at home should give them an opportunity to jump back up. The Pacers begin that stretch by hosting the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.

Indiana rallied from a 21-point deficit to make it close at Washington on Saturday before falling 109-102 and lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Wizards in the process. "Every game is important," Pacers guard Victor Oladipo told reporters. "We just got to show a little bit of resiliency. Every game is important, whether it's on the road, whether it's at home. We've proven we can win on the road, but every game is important. We got to take it one game at a time, value every possession and value every game." Every game is important for the Lakers from a development standpoint, and the young team is having an impact in the postseason race in both conferences by playing hard down the stretch. Los Angeles won eight of 10 before dropping its last two and will begin its four-game trip with games against a pair of teams fighting for playoff position at Indiana and New Orleans.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), FS Indiana

ABOUT THE LAKERS (31-38): Los Angeles came up just short against another East playoff team in a 92-91 home loss to Miami on Friday, and coach Luke Walton blamed a lack of toughness. "They were tougher than we were tonight, which is really frustrating," Walton told reporters after the loss. "I don't want to lose, but I don't mind losing when other teams make plays. We had moments of playing our brand of basketball and being physical and getting stops, but they ended up with 18 more shot attempts than us. Our main goal was don't turn the ball over and control the pace. We didn't do a good job with that tonight." The Lakers committed 20 turnovers in the loss and managed 41 points after halftime.

ABOUT THE PACERS (40-30): Indiana's comeback effort on Saturday was led by reserve swingman Lance Stephenson, who finished with a season-high 25 points and five assists. "He was aggressive. He was making plays," Pacers coach Nate McMillan told reporters of Stephenson. "I thought he was able to get to the basket and give us something off the bench. That was positive. We needed that." Indiana needed Stephenson's toughness while missing a pair of centers in Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, both of whom are day-to-day with ankle injuries.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Lakers SF Brandon Ingram (hip) is traveling with the team but is not expected to play Monday.

2. Pacers PG Darren Collison is 6-of-9 from 3-point range over the last two games.

3. Los Angeles earned a 99-86 home win over Indiana on Jan. 19 despite Oladipo's 25 points.

PREDICTION: Pacers 107, Lakers 103