The Los Angeles Lakers will face off against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday in part two of their annual four-game regular season series. The Warriors will be seeking revenge after getting blown out in the first meeting between Luke Walton and the team that wishes they still had him.
It will be a difficult game for the Lakers who are suddenly without D’Angelo Russell for a short time as he rests his injured knee. In addition to the injury woes for their point guard, the Lakers will also likely be without Julius Randle, who is nursing a hip injury that noticeably limited him in the team’s win over the Thunder on Tuesday.
Heading to Oakland on a back-to-back is difficult enough, but without two of the team’s best players, it will be a tough task to replicate the victory early in the season. That said, the same Lakers were able to pull off a heart-wrenching win on Tuesday with some of the same issues.
LA will hope for an even bigger game from its high-usage bench which has been perhaps its biggest key to success en route to an 8-7 record. Luke Walton has opted to keep the main bench unit intact even with injuries (Jose Calderon started in place of Russell on Tuesday despite having barely played all season) for that reason.
For the Lakers to be able to hang with the Warriors through four quarters, they will need the likes of Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams, Brandon Ingram, and Larry Nance, Jr. to have huge games. And of course, they will need Marcelo Huertas to be the Stephen Curry-stopper that he is.
That’s easier said than done. But these Lakers are full of surprises.
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