Lakers report: Timofey Mozgov gets hit in the face twice during loss to Pacers

Reporting from Indianapolis —  Lakers center Timofey Mozgov will have a CT scan on Wednesday morning to determine if he has an orbital fracture around his left eye.

After Mozgov suffered through a tough night in a 115-108 loss to the Indiana Pacers, his status for Wednesday’s game in Atlanta is unclear.

“As long as I can see like I used to see, [with] two eyes, I’m OK,” Mozgov said. “If I can’t see what’s going on, there’s no way I can play. It’s not smart.”

Mozgov spoke to reporters with stitches closing a gash on his lip, his left eye nearly swollen shut and the hood of a sweatshirt pulled over his head.

“He looks like he got in a heavyweight fight,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. “He couldn’t really see out of it when he left the game.”

Mozgov suffered a laceration to his mouth with 9:44 left in the third quarter when Pacers guard Jeff Teague inadvertently elbowed him in the face.

He returned with 3:59 left in the quarter, but was again hit in the face. That time a foul was called, but Mozgov couldn’t see out of his left eye, so he left the game. Pacers Coach Nate McMillan selected former Pacer Metta World Peace to take Mozgov’s free throws and he made both.

Mozgov finished with six points and five rebounds in 19 minutes.

No time to rest

The Lakers are heading into their first back-to-back of the season. After leaving Indiana, they flew to Atlanta where they’ll face the Hawks, who are 3-0.

Walton treated Tuesday night’s game without an eye toward the game the next day.

“When I was up with the Warriors, that was different,” Walton said before the game, of handling minutes during a back-to-back. “No matter what, we weren’t going to play certain older players big minutes. But tonight we’re going to worry about tonight, see how it falls, then if people need rest tomorrow we can give them rest in tomorrow night’s game.”

Dad’s here

Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. had a special guest at Tuesday’s game. His father, Larry Nance, who played 13 NBA seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns.

“Kind of takes you back to high school,” Nance Jr. said. “It’s always good to bounce questions off him in person rather than on the phone.”

Nance finished the game with 11 points, five rebounds, six steals, three turnovers and a blocked shot.

“I was looking to cause trouble, try to knock the ball loose,” Nance said.

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