Any other month of the NBA season, any other time, and a night like Friday might have been seen as something that had to happen.

There are nights when your legs are too tired, your brain is too foggy, and the rims are too tight when you have 82 games on the schedule. For the Lakers and the Indiana Pacers, it’s 83 games thanks to the in-season playoffs.

But that stuff doesn’t matter when you’re where the Lakers were on Friday.

Since the Lakers needed wins to get out of ninth place in the Western Conference standings, they had to fight through “one of those nights.”

They missed too many shots, couldn’t talk to each other clearly, and looked very angry. The Lakers knew what was at stake.

After a careless mistake that led to a Pacers basket, Austin Reaves rolled up a towel and threw it off the bench. After a mistake that let the Pacers make an easy layup, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell all looked confused.

The Lakers’ five-game winning streak ended with a 109–90 loss. The team had to deal with a performance that could make it even harder for them to get out of the play-in games and into the playoffs.

The Lakers had scored 90 points, which was their lowest total of the season and their first time below 100 since January 3.

Davis had 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Lakers. However, the team only made five of 29 three-point shots, with Russell, Reaves, and Spencer Dinwiddie making a total of two of 18 shots.

Even though James scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, the Lakers never really had any force in the game.

The team’s fourth game of a six-game road trip is this Sunday in Brooklyn. Guard Gabe Vincent might be able to play again at that time. He joined the team in Indianapolis and was wearing regular clothes on the bench on Friday night.