The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their third straight victory and sixth in the last seven games when they defeated the Houston Rockets on Sunday night. The Lakers did so in comfortable fashion, but once again a potential injury was the talk coming out of the game after point guard D’Angelo Russell sat out the second half.
Russell has already missed eight games since being acquired by the Lakers at this year’s trade deadline. First it was a sprained ankle that kept him out of six contests and most recently it was hip soreness that forced him out of two more.
But Lakers head coach Darvin Ham did not sound too concerned about it after the game, calling the move to sit Russell in the second half a precautionary one while adding that Russell could have continued if the team really needed him to, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, it was definitely precautionary. Just a little left foot soreness, flared up a little bit. He could’ve continued the game if we needed him to, but we just got the bodies we have available to us now we just didn’t wanna risk it. Just decided to hold him out and he’ll be evaluated we’ll see how he feels in the morning.”
The Lakers have been excellent for the little time they have been at full strength and with just four games left and the team on the brink of climbing out of the Play-In Tournament, the last thing they need is another injury. There was already some concern when Anthony Davis went down with that sprained ankle, but he remained in the game against Minnesota and continued his dominant ways two days later in Houston.
Russell has been a valuable addition to the Lakers, giving the team with another ballhandler and creator capable of operating on the ball while also providing floor spacing and shooting when off the ball. Hopefully this turns out to be exactly as Ham described it, precautionary, and the Lakers can continue moving forward at full strength to keep their momentum going.
Lakers in four-way tie in loss column after win over Rockets
Thanks to this excellent recent run, the Lakers now find themselves in a battle in the Western Conference standings and got some help this weekend as well.
The Lakers are currently in a tie for the seventh seed with the New Orleans Pelicans at 40-38, but are just a half game behind both the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors, who are tied for fifth at 41-38. Needless to say, Wednesday’s contest with the Clippers will be arguably the most vital contest of the season.
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