The Los Angeles Lakers are rolling right now, coming off of impressive wins at home against the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans. The most recent win against the Pelicans extended their winning streak to six games, with that streak starting before the All-Star break. They’ll now head into where the six-game winning streak started on February 8th, as the Lakers will be paying the Golden State Warriors a visit.
LeBron James will be out
Lakers fans received some bad news on Wednesday, as the team announced that LeBron James would be out for tonight’s matchup. The news of LeBron missing a game against one of the worst teams in the NBA can usually be taken with a grain of salt, as it’s usually just a case of load management as LeBron and the Lakers want him to be fresh for the playoffs. What’s concerning is the designation for the injury, as he was listed out with a “sore groin”.
LeBron James is out tomorrow at Golden State with a sore groin.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) February 26, 2020
LeBron James obviously missed a significant amount of time last year with a groin injury, while also being rumored to have an aggravated groin earlier this year around Christmas. We’ll see what his status will be for the Lakers’ second straight road-game on Saturday against the Grizzlies. If he plays, then I think it’s safe to assume that this was just for rest. Although, he may still be kept out of Saturday’s game since that will be the second night of a back-to-back as the Lakers will be playing the Pelicans again in New Orleans on Sunday.
The Lakers will have to find scoring in other places, as LeBron has been an absolute machine for them since coming back from the break. In those three games, he has averaged 33.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game while shooting 56.4% from the field and 36.8% from three.
Slumping Warriors look to get a win before Stephen Curry’s return on Sunday
The Golden State Warriors are going to be coming into this one battered and bruised, as they’re currently on a seven-game losing streak. Their most recent loss was at home to the Sacramento Kings, as the Warriors only managed to score 94 points on the night. They’ll also be without their star player, which isn’t surprising as Stephen Curry has missed nearly all of the season with his hand injury. However, the Lakers have dodged a bullet as Curry is expected to return on Sunday.
Although the Warriors failed to score a lot of points against the Kings, they did a pretty good job against the Lakers the last time they played, losing 125-120 to the Lakers prior to the All-Star break. However, most of those 120 points could probably be attributed to the Lakers’ sloppiness, as they appeared to be desperate for that All-Star break. They ended with 24 turnovers, which is the most they’ve had in a single game this year.
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Even though LeBron James is set to miss the game tonight, Anthony Davis should end up playing (designated as probable) which means the Lakers really shouldn’t have any excuses for a possible loss to the worst team in the Western Conference.
Tip-off will be at 7:30 p.m. PST.
