The Los Angeles Lakers will go into their home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday with a lot of optimism because they won two crucial games and received some encouraging injury news.
On Wednesday, the Lakers (36-37) defeated the Phoenix Suns 122-111 in a close contest at home. Then, on Thursday, reports in the media suggested that LeBron James would return to the team before the regular season ended.
“They’re intense and they’re going well,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of James’ workouts as the superstar tries to recover from a tendon injury in his right foot.
On Thursday, James tweeted: “In response to the reports about his status.” My return date has not been specified, and there was no evaluation today. To give myself the best possible chance of recovering fully, whenever that may be, I’m just working continuously, three times per day. Sources, God bless you all. “I am my own advocate!”
Without their star player, the Lakers, who are vying for a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, have been trying to succeed. Since James was injured in a win against the Dallas Mavericks on February 26, they are 7-5.
After James went down, Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell led the first charge, but a new go-to player has emerged. As a result of his career-high 35 points in Sunday’s win over the Orlando Magic, Austin Reaves got the start on Wednesday. He transformed that open door into a 25-point, 11-help execution against the Suns.
After scoring 10.8 points per game in 46 games to begin the season, Reaves has been averaging 19.8 points per game over the past nine games.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of The Thunder is also on a tear, but given that he has become a genuine star, his output was to be expected.
On Thursday, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, but the Thunder (36-37) lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 127-105 on the road. The Clippers shot 56% from the field and 48.6% (18 of 37) from three-point range against the Thunder.
Oklahoma City has won eight of its last 11 games despite the loss, which came two days after the team defeated the Clippers on the road by a score of 101-100. In any case, the most recent misfortune tossed the Roar out of a play-in competition spot in the West, in spite of the fact that they are attached with three groups that are qualified, one of which is the Lakers.
