Lakers: Why LA Might Actually Win Its Christmas Game Against The Nets
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Despite an incredibly lackluster four-game losing slump that has dropped the Los Angeles Lakers below .500 33 games into the season, LA still has a chance to upset the East-leading Brooklyn Nets when the visit the, uh, Crypto Arena on Christmas Day.
Your 16-17 Lakers will host the 21-9 Nets tomorrow at 5 p.m. PT on ABC and ESPN. LA, despite missing Anthony Davis, Trevor Ariza, Avery Bradley, Malik Monk and Austin Reaves, has a genuine chance to beat Brooklyn... unfortunately, it's not really for basketball reasons. Kent Bazemore and Kendrick Nunn are absent too, but Nunn has yet to play a game for his new team and Bazemore has proven to be a waste of a free agency signing.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reveals that All-Star forward Kevin Durant will miss tomorrow's game while remaining in the league's COVID-19 health and safety protocols, alongside unvaccinated All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, plus role players LaMarcus Aldridge, the unfortunately-named David Duke Jr., Kessler Edwards, Joe Harris, Day'ron Sharpe, and Cam Thomas. Haynes adds that wing Bruce Brown and forward James Johnson have cleared protocols and will be able to suit up tomorrow.
The Lakers have suffered a series of listless defeats now, including last night's rudderless 138-110 loss to Keita Bates-Diop and the 13-18 San Antonio Spurs, who enjoyed an uncharacteristically hot night from long range. San Antonio went 18-of-39 from deep (46.2%) last night against the Lakers.
Thanks to the misfortunes of other franchises, the Lakers have yet to really feel their losing streak impact their position in the Western Conference standings. They remain the sixth seed, ahead of the dreaded play-in tournament bracket, though their win-loss record puts them at mere fractions of a percentage point ahead of the 15-16 Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets (the seventh and eighth seeds) for the privilege.
All of which is to say that the Lakers could really, really use a win, however they can get it. In this case, that would transpire because their superior opposition would be missing two of its three best players, plus six role players. It's not because of scheme, which the Lakers barely seem to have at this point given the absence of Anthony Davis and so many of their guards. Only LeBron James and Russell Westbrook have proven to be consistent scorers for LA in the absence of AD.
If both teams were completely healthy, it has become abundantly clear that Los Angeles would be no match for Brooklyn, even on LA's home turf. What looked like a marquee contest to NBA schedulers ahead of the 2021-22 season certainly would seem fairly one-sided in Brooklyn's favor, were the team not missing so many contributors. The Lakers have struggled on offense and seen their defense slip, too, on an aging team that appears to be closer to missing the play-in tournament than to contending for a championship.
But for one glorious, absence-plagued Christmas Day, the Lakers might actually cook the Nets.
Of course, the Nets still have All-Star guard James Harden, and, despite appearing to have lost a step athletically, he seems to finally be acclimating to the way NBA referees are calling fouls this year...
