this Los Angeles Lakers Defeated Portland Trail Blazers LeBron James was sidelined earlier this week.
Five nights later, James is expected to be in the starting lineup. lakers access Trail Blazers in an NBA in-season tournament matchup.
James missed the game against Portland with a left calf injury, but a return is unlikely.this lakers Anthony Davis scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 116-100 victory.
In the interim, James has back-to-back games against the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the game against the visiting Kings, he performed well, scoring 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, which was the 108th triple-double of his career.
This triple-double tied Jason Kidd and ranked James fifth in NBA history.
Davis’ (hip, adductor) health has often been a question, but he’s listed as likely to play Friday.
In the 125-110 loss to Sacramento, Davis scored just nine points on 3-for-9 shooting and committed five turnovers, but he didn’t want to blame it on his illness. He also had nine rebounds and four blocks.
“I just didn’t play well,” Davis said. “I’m not going to put it on anything. It’s just missed shots… I still try every day. Obviously, you don’t really attack it on that day (when the game comes) back to – Come back. It still bothers me a little bit, but I still have to go out and do my job.”
D’Angelo Russell scored 28 points against the Sacramento Kings. Los Angeles had won three straight before losing to the Kings.
this lakers In the Western Conference Group A of the in-season tournament, the team is tied for first place with the Utah Jazz (2-0) with a 2-0 record.
The Trail Blazers ranked third in the five-team group with a record of 1 win and 1 loss.
this Trail Blazers The team’s offense struggled after star guard Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason.
The Trail Blazers entered Thursday ranking last in the league in scoring at 104.7 points per game and had failed to reach 100 points in five of 11 games.
this Trail Blazers The team expected guard Anfernee Simons – who averaged a career-high 21.1 points per game last season – to be the leading scorer, but he suffered a ligament injury in his right thumb in the season opener and is expected to miss the game. It won’t be back until sometime next month.
Rookie guard Scott Henderson suffered a right ankle injury in his fifth career game and is still weeks away from returning.
Veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon (hamstring) is also sick and will miss his fourth straight game.
The absence was evident in Wednesday’s 109-95 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, as Portland shot just 37.4 percent from the field and 13 of 38 from beyond the arc.
“I thought we weren’t healthy enough to survive a tough shooting night from our top guys.” Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups said. “Then I thought about the other end and that’s what we were worried about, it was just size. We couldn’t compete for the most part. They crushed us on the glass and kind of locked that in. So ‘It’s tough.’ “
Jerami Grant scored a team-high 17 points against the Cavaliers.
—Scene-level media