LOS ANGELES_The Los Angeles Lakers should have installed one of those Turn-o-Matic ticket dispensers _ like the ones at supermarket deli counters _ outside their training room Friday night. "Now serving No. 1 ... Now serving No. 0."
Their 108-96 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Staples Center wasn't two minutes old when point guard D'Angelo Russell tripped over a teammate, fell to the floor and suffered a mild medial collateral (MCL) sprain of his right knee.
Then midway through the second quarter, shooting guard Nick Young got tangled up with two defenders on a drive to the basket, fell face-first to the floor and limped to the locker room after making two of his first five three-point attempts.
Young was diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee, but X-rays were negative. He started the second half and went on to finish with 15 points, making five of 11 from three-point range.
Russell's injury appears more serious. In addition to the knee sprain, he suffered a right-calf strain. He did not return and will undergo an MRI test on Saturday.
But the loss of Russell didn't sink the Lakers, who snapped a five-game losing streak by beating a playoff-caliber team that had won seven of eight games before Friday.
Reserve Lou Williams scored a team-high 27 points, making seven of 15 shots from the field and nine of 10 from the free-throw line, and three other Lakers besides Young scored in double figures _ Julius Randle (16), Brandon Ingram (15) and Jordan Clarkson (12). Tarik Black had eight points and 13 rebounds.
"You feel for your guys," Coach Luke Walton said of the injuries. "We've been struggling to stay healthy all season, but at the same time, when it happens in a game, you have to move on and stay focused on what you're doing."
The Lakers rallied from a two-point halftime deficit to outscore the Pacers, 35-22, in the third quarter, with Ingram scoring 10 points in the period to help the Lakers take an 86-75 lead.
Ingram sparked an 8-0 run early in the quarter with a three-pointer and a steal and long pass to Calderon for a basket. Calderon made a three-pointer for a 69-69 lead with 6:53 left in the period.
The Pacers never got within nine points of the Lakers in the fourth, as Williams opened the period with a corner three, Clarkson stole a ball and raced the length of the floor for a dunk, and Young made a three-pointer for a 94-77 lead at the 10:10 mark.
"Turnovers and points off turnovers killed us in first half," Walton said. "But we did a much better job of getting back in transition, and they only scored eight points in our paint in the second half, which, for us, is a near-miracle."
Russell's injury occurred when he had the ball beyond the three-point line and started to run off a Randle pick when his foot clipped Randle's foot. Russell crumpled to the floor in pain and remained there for several minutes before walking to the locker room under his own power.
"I don't think it's as bad as I initially thought," Walton said. "When I saw him go down, I was pretty worried, but he said he felt all right when I checked on him at halftime."
Russell, the second overall pick in the 2015 draft, is averaging 14.8 points and 4.5 assists a game but was in a shooting slump in his previous five games, scoring a total of 48 points (9.6 average) on 20 of 61 shooting (32.8 percent) from the field and 2 of 18 from three-point range. (11.1 percent).
Russell suffered a left-knee injury in November that forced him to miss 12 games, the Lakers going 3-9 in his absence.
Randle, like Russell, was in a deep five-game funk, scoring 41 points _ 22 of them against San Antonio on Jan. 12 _ for an 8.2 average and shooting 34.9 percent from the field (15 of 43). In eight games before that, he had averaged 17.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and shot 51 percent from the field.
But the power forward asserted himself in the first-half Friday, scoring 12 points and pulling down five rebounds to help keep the Lakers within two points (53-51) of the Pacers at halftime.
At one point late in the second quarter, Randle battled two Pacers underneath the basket for an offensive rebound, banked in a follow shot while being fouled and slapped his flexing biceps to the crowd.
