Lakers News: LA Trying New Starting Lineup With LeBron James Sidelined Against Heat
The shorthanded Lakers are getting set to play the Miami Heat at 7:00 pm on ESPN and Spectrum SportsNet. LeBron James is out with a cold, while Lonnie Walker IV remains out with a knee injury. Anthony Davis remains sidelined with his foot injury, although he's made some promising progress as of late.
With his top three scorers out, head coach Darvin Ham had to get creative with the starting lineup. Here's how it looks for game No. 38 of the Lakers' season:
PG Dennis Shröder
SG Patrick Beverly
SF Austin Reaves
PF Juan Toscano-Anderson
C Thomas Bryant
Shröder is getting his 21st start of the season. As a starter this year, he's averaging 11.7 points, 4.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game. The Lakers will probably need some more scoring out of him with James, Walker and Davis out.
Beverly is getting set to start his 31st game of the season, and has started every game he's played in for the Lakers. He'll likely try to slow down two of Miami's top scorers in Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro.
Then there's Reaves, who came off the bench last game, but is thrust back into the starting lineup on Wednesday. In 11 games as a starter this year, Reaves is averaging 12.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 31.4 minutes per game. He'll have to play a big role as a go-to scorer if the Lakers want a shot at winning this game.
At the four is Toscano-Anderson, who's started one game this year out of 17 appearances, and had three points, three rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes. It'll be interesting to see how much playing time he gets.
Finally, there's Bryant, who has filled in very nicely for Davis as the team's starting big man. In 11 games as a starter this season, Bryant is averaging 14.5 points and 9.1 rebounds on very impressive 62.6/52.9/76.5 shooting splits.
Since December 18 — his first game as a starter in place of AD — he's averaging 14.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Over the last four games, he's been red hot, averaging 17.3 points and 12.5 rebounds on nearly 70% shooting from the field. He'll have a tall task matching up with Heat star Bam Adebayo.
It won't be easy for the Lakers tonight without their three top scorers — they're currently 8.5-point underdogs. But if they want a chance to win, it may be up to a strong performance from their sixth man Russell Westbrook. Also, expect Troy Brown Jr. to play a big role off the bench, and to see some Max Christie, who's back with the team after a short stint with the South Bay Lakers.
It may not be pretty tonight, but expect some interesting lineups from LA as they try to steal a victory from Miami.
