LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers opened up the second half of the regular season with a win over the L.A. Clippers, and for really the first time all year, their whole roster was healthy and available.
That almost wasn’t the case as earlier in the day, James was downgraded to questionable with left knee soreness. He warmed up and was eventually able to play, but didn’t look like his usual self as only had 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting to go along with three rebounds and 11 assists.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed after the game that James was also dealing with a migraine in addition to the knee issue.
When LeBron was discussing his ailments, he revealed that the knee injury happened in practice on Thursday.
“It happened at practice yesterday, during our scrimmage,” he said. “[I] went up for a dunk [and] came down pretty good. But a couple minutes into the scrimmage after that, I started getting a little soreness and started getting a little tight. Yeah, that’s what happened.”
Even though he wasn’t at 100%, James wanted to play and make an impact for his team.
“If I’m gonna play, I gotta make something happen. [I] gotta be productive for the team and do what I can do,” the 41-year-old said.
It was a close game throughout with the Lakers pulling ahead in the final minutes to secure the victory. LeBron credited their defense and also praised Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves for their play.
“We got a couple more stops. They played some good offensive gameplay by individuals, by teams. Both teams shot really well, but [we were] able to get a couple stops. Obviously, Luka [Dončić] and AR (Austin Reaves) [were] phenomenal offensively, but we just needed to get that win in.”
LeBron James emphasizes need for reps
The Lakers have dealt with players going in and out of the lineup all seasons due to injuries. They are finally healthy though, which LeBron James believes will give them a chance to get some much-needed reps to build chemistry as a group.
“Every game. Every second we’re on the floor together, it helps,” James said. “Like I said All-Star Weekend, we don’t know what we’re gonna be until we get fully healthy and tonight was one of the first games where JJ and the coaching staff could look down and see everybody was available. So we just gotta keep pushing. We got a tough team coming in on Sunday obviously, a lifetime NBA rivalry. So we gotta be ready for them. They’re playing great basketball too.”
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