The Los Angeles Lakers fought tooth and nail to make the postseason, but unfortunately their reward for qualifying is a first-round matchup against the Denver Nuggets.
Los Angeles didn’t try to duck the defending champions to end the regular season and they came out strong against them in Game 1. The Lakers looked like the aggressor, executing their game plan on both ends of the floor to take a double-digit lead.
However, things fell apart in the third quarter after Denver went on a run that left Los Angeles searching for answers, and the same could be said for Game 2 when they lost at the buzzer. The purple and gold have shown they can hang with the Nuggets, but their late-game execution has done them in one too many times now.
With the series shifting to Los Angeles, the team could be getting a major boost as Jarred Vanderbilt is reportedly eyeing a return as soon as Game 3, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt, out since Feb. 1 with a right midfoot sprain, is eyeing a return to the court as early as Game 3 of L.A.'s first round series with the Denver Nuggets, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN on Monday.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 23, 2024
Head coach Darvin Ham didn’t reveal much in his pregame presser for Game 2, but did mention that Vanderbilt had another strong workout, via Dan Woike of L.A. Times:
“We’ll see how he responds to what he did today and still nothing’s going to change in terms of new information,” Ham said. “It’s a day-by-day thing, so we have to see how he tolerates the recovery process. He exerted himself at a pretty high level today, so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow and we’ll just keep going day by day.”
Vanderbilt has been stacking good workouts in hopes of coming back before the end of the season, and it seems that he’s progressed enough to make a return a possibility.
Although getting Vanderbilt back is good news, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be 100 percent after missing so much time. Vanderbilt can certainly help the Lakers, especially defensively, but he’d likely only be an option in spurts.
Christian Wood planning to return to Lakers lineup in Game 3
Aside from Vanderbilt, Los Angeles has also been without Christian Wood, who is currently rehabbing from a knee injury he was diagnosed with over the All-Star break. After missing nearly two months, Wood is also reportedly aiming to return for Game 3 against Denver.
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