INDIANAPOLIS — LaMarcus Aldridge is apparently something of a glutton for punishment. He also wanted to make sure he was not due more of it.

Moments after the Spurs lost a 97-94 heartbreaker at Indiana on Sunday, Aldridge was in the visitors locker room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, reliving Victor Oladipo’s rainbow of a game-winning 3-pointer over and over via the magic of video.

Aldridge’s conclusion?

“Hell of a shot by him,” Aldridge said.

Aldridge is convinced he was where he was supposed to be at the moment Oladipo launched. His coach agrees.

He was close enough to the Indiana guard to force Oladipo to step back to 27 feet, fall to the side and put enough arc on the ball to draw rain.

That it went in, giving Oladipo 23 points and the Pacers a one-point lead with 10.3 seconds left, speaks to bad luck more than anything.

“The basketball gods just blessed him,” Aldridge said.

It would be too much to say the Spurs are feeling cursed.

Five days earlier, they were 4-0 and one of the last remaining undefeated teams in the NBA.

Then came a 27-point loss at Orlando on Friday, followed by Sunday’s gut-wrencher against the Pacers.

Next up is a game Monday at Boston, against a Celtics team many believe can still compete for the Eastern Conference crown despite the season-ending loss of Gordon Hayward. After that they return to the AT&T Center for a six-game homestand that begins Thursday against big, bad Golden State.

If the Spurs (4-2) don’t play better than they did Sunday, they could be staring at .500 before the end of the week.

“We haven’t shot the ball well, that’s for sure, the last two games,” center Pau Gasol said. “That has put a lot of pressure on the defense. It should be what holds us up during slumps like that.”

All along, the Spurs knew the beginning of the season might pose a challenge.

With All-Star, do-everything small forward Kawhi Leonard on the injured list, the Spurs have had to make do without the player who often has seemed to single-handedly make them go.

Sunday was the first time they truly missed him.

If Leonard were healthy, Aldridge likely still gets switched onto Oladipo with 10.3 seconds left.

But wouldn’t Leonard’s shot-making have been useful a possession later, when Aldridge left a go-ahead jumper short? Or the possession after that, when Patty Mills missed everything on a 3-pointer at the horn?

The Spurs aren’t using Leonard’s unavailability as an excuse. But …

“Clearly if you have a Kobe Bryant, a Michael Jordan, a Kevin Durant or a Kawhi Leonard in those moments, you usually have a better chance,” Gasol said.

Aldridge has done his best to pick up the slack with Leonard out. He was productive again Sunday, finishing with 26 points and eight rebounds.

That makes six consecutive games with at least 20 points for Aldridge, the longest streak to start a season by a Spurs player since David Robinson in 1997-98.

The Spurs wasted Aldridge’s performance, as well as Gasol’s best outing of the season (17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five blocks).

Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis made all nine of his field goals on his way to 22 points and 12 rebounds, and the Pacers overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to sneak a win.

“We just stayed poised,” Oladipo said. “It’s a long game. There are a lot of ups and downs.”

The Spurs led 94-92 heading into the closing seconds before Oladipo unfurled his high-arching parabola over every inch of the 6-foot-11 Aldridge.

Oladipo didn’t want to take the jumper. He was too deep, too off balance.

He agrees with Aldridge’s postgame assessment. The shot was well-defended.

“Praise the basketball gods for that one,” Oladipo said, also echoing Aldridge.

Gasol was not on the floor for the shot. Watching from the bench, his first instinct was to figure out which Spurs player was going to be in position to secure the defensive rebound.

“It was a tough three,” Gasol said. “It was a contested three. It went in and that was the game.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich agreed there was little else Aldridge could do.

“It was well contested,” Popovich said. “He was deep and off balance. But give him credit. He knocked it down. That’s all that matters.”

Oladipo, meanwhile, has a simple explanation for what happened at Bankers Life Field House on Sunday. It was more than just the basketball gods.

“We persevered,” Oladipo said.

As their road trip staggers toward its conclusion Monday in Boston, the Spurs hope to do the same.