The Los Angeles Lakers are dealing with a number of injuries as of late. Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker IV are all out for at least another week, Troy Brown Jr. has missed the last three game with a quad injury and LeBron James sat out Monday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets with his lingering ankle issue.
The Lakers didn’t leave Monday’s game unscathed either as Patrick Beverley did not come out for the second half after suffering a hip injury. Russell Westbrook also dealt with an issue, but the Lakers’ sixth man was able to shake it off and keep playing.
In the first half of the loss in Denver, Westbrook could be seen grabbing at his hand briefly. The Lakers point guard would reveal after the contest that he had actually dislocated his pinky finger and he received X-rays that came back negative so he believes he will be just fine, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I dislocated my pinky, but it should be alright. I got an x-ray, nothing, so I’ll be alright. As a point guard your fingers stay gettin messed up so it’ll be alright.”
When Westbrook was informed of his excellent statistical second half, he simply chalked it up to his focus:
“[laughing] Well, you know, lock in.”
Westbrook scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half where he shot 9-of-12 from the floor, though it wasn’t enough to help the Lakers overcome the current top team in the Western Conference. Westbrook was undoubtedly a driving force for the Lakers throughout that second half, but he also struggled to take care of the ball, being responsible for seven of the Lakers’ 13 turnovers on the night.
Nonetheless, Westbrook simply shaking off a dislocated finger is impressive as the Lakers can ill afford to lose another rotation player. Options on the perimeter are already getting thin with Darvin Ham playing two-way player Cole Swider for 25 minutes in Denver.
It looks as if Westbrook will be just fine moving forward, and with the Lakers having a couple of days off before taking the floor again, hopefully they will have a couple of players back on the court when they do.
Patrick Beverley leaves Lakers loss to Nuggets with hip injury
The latest Lakers player to suffer an injury is Beverley, who suffered a hip injury in the first half of the loss in Denver and did not come out in the second half.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said it was unclear exactly what the issue with Beverley is or how serious it might be and that won’t be known for sure until the medical staff is able to get a closer look at Beverley when the team returns to L.A.
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