NEWS
LeBron James was sidelined for the game after limping out of the LA Lakers' loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, and it doesn't appear that he will be back straight away. Per the latest reports, James is expected to miss the Lakers' tough back-to-back at the end of the week against the LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers.
The LA Lakers certainly impressed on Monday night in what was a surprising win against the red-hot Denver Nuggets. Their backcourt trio of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker combined for 31 points, while Marc Gasol had an efficient 13 minutes off the bench with 10 points and 7 rebounds.
The Lakers will have to continue those performances for the remainder of the campaign if they are to keep hold of their current seeding.
The biggest factor in the Lakers' previous run without LeBron James was their strong defense - it was the most stifling in the league and conceded the fourth-fewest points.
However, the Lakers also scored the fourth-fewest points in that time, which resulted in a record of 8-12. Therefore, they are certainly going to miss James' 25 points and 7.8 assists per game against the Clippers and Trail Blazers - two sides with a top-seven offense this year.
Recent Post