After their 127-101 win on
Christmas Day 2018 at the back-to-back defending NBA champion Golden State
Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers were flying high and it seemed a formality
that they would end their five-year playoff drought. Since that victory on Dec.
25, 2018 that had the Lakers in the thick of the rugged Western Conference
playoff race, a lot has changed in the wrong direction for them and it only got
worst with not just that they are on outside of the playoff picture but that
two key young players are now out for the remainder of this season.
Over the weekend a report came out
that second-year lead guard Lonzo Ball will miss the rest of the season because
the Grade 3 sprained of his left ankle and bruised he sustained two months ago
has not healed.
According to a report from
ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Ball meet with the Lakers doctors on Saturday right
before the team’s 120-107 loss versus the arch rival Celtics (41-26) on ABC.
The Lakers (30-36) said in a
statement that Ball had made “good progress” in his recovery doing some
shooting without jumping and dribbling exercises on the court.
Unfortunately, because of that bone
bruise that was also sustained when he badly sprained his ankle in that 138-134
overtime loss at the Houston Rockets (41-25) on Jan. 19 Ball’s recovery has
been slowed.
The Lakers, who have gone 5-13
without Ball decided recently that it would be best to shut down the
21-year-old California native so he can fully heal in time to work on his game
in the off-season.
This past off-season, Ball stayed
off an injured knee so it can heel, only to have surgery later to repair a torn
meniscus, which kept him from working on his game during the offseason.
The news of Ball being shelved
comes on the heels of third-year forward Brandon Ingram being diagnosed with a
deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in his ailing right arm.
Ingram had been sidelined the last
two games after head coach Luke Walton said he had problems raising his right
arm without having any pain.
It was not until Ingram went
through further tests that he was diagnosed with DVT, which is the result of a
blood clot that is frequently accompanied by swelling and pain in a limb.
Ingram hopes to get more
information about the condition of his arm later this week. Lakers’ head coach
Luke Walton was tight-lipped about any further details about the third-year
forward other than saying his 2018-19 season his done.
“We’ve released what he’s got going
on, but I’m not going to get into all the details,” Walton said. “I’m just
finding out a lot myself. All I’m going to say on him right now is that he’s
out for the rest of the season.”
This is something that normally
occurs in the lower part of the body around the legs but can also occur in the
upper body area as well.
Two well known athletes that have
experienced this are perennial All-Star and two-time NBA champion Chris Bosh of
the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat and tennis great Serena Williams. Bosh had
to retire because of issues with blood clots while Williams was able to return
to the tennis court.
The loss of Ingram is especially
tough because he was playing at a very high level this season as the No. 2
overall pick in 2016 out of Duke was averaging career-highs of 18.5 points and
5.1 rebounds, on 49.7 percent from the field this season. Since the All-Star
break, Ingram was averaging 27.8 points and 7.5 rebounds on 57.0 percent from
the field and 52.9 from three-point range the last six games. The Lakers have just
a 1-5 record in those contests.
“I think you put everything in
perspective. At the end of the day we play the game that we love and our league
is all about wins and losses, and that’s what it’s all about,” 15-time All-Star
LeBron James, who had a triple-double of 30 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists
said after the loss versus the Celtics, “but when you have something like that
happen, you’re able to put things into perspective and how important those things
are as well.”
“And on the flip side you just
don’t take an opportunity for granted when you do get on the floor because it
can be taken away from you, and hour season can be shut down like B.I.’s
instance. Like Zo’s instance. Like there cases. So, obviously we wish the best
of health not only to B.I. but Zo as well.”
With their playoff hopes almost out
of reach trailing the No. 8 Seeded Clippers (38-29) by 7 ½ games, the
organization has made the decision to play it safe with its young players as
well as their most important one in four-time Kia MVP LeBron James.
That is why second-year forward
Kyle Kuzma, who was out against the Celtics over the weekend because of an
injured ankle he sustained last week will likely not be back anytime soon.
Fellow second-year player Josh Hart, whose been playing with knee tendinitis
that has been an issue for a few months.
Hart has said nothing has helped to
relieve the pain in his knee but does not want to be shelved like Ball and
Ingram have had to be for the remainder of the season.
“I don’t want to give up on this
team,” he said when asked about if being shut down is in consideration. “I’m
going to play as hard as I can for however long I can. Obviously at the end of
the day, I got to make sure I don’t make the damage worse. But I want to go out
there and compete and play every game as best I can.”
To put into perspective the
importance of having James, Ball and Ingram in the lineup has been for the
Lakers, they are 15-8 this season when all three play. Counting Saturday
night’s loss versus the Celtics, the team is just 15-28 when at least one was
not available according to ESPN Stats & Information research. James, Ball,
and Ingram have not been on the court together since that Christmas Day win at
the Warriors.
In the win at the Warriors, James
injured his groin injury and was lost for 17 games, and for 18 of the next 19
games from Dec. 27, 2018-Jan. 31. The Lakers went just 6-12 without the four-time
Kia MVP. They also lost to veteran guard Rajon Rondo to an injured finger that
required surgery, which shelved him for 14 games from Dec. 27, 2018-Jan. 24. The
Lakers went 5-9 without Rondo.
As 2018 drew to a close, the Los
Angeles Lakers were in prime position to end their five-year playoff drought at
20-14. As we head into the middle part of March, they have gone 10-22 since and
find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture staring at a sixth
straight season and seeing their Staples Center co-tenants in the Clippers
likely reach the postseason after a one-year absence.
It seems crazy to think that this
will be the first spring where the NBA playoffs will not have LeBron James,
whose made it to eight consecutive NBA Finals not in the postseason since his
second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004-05.
While it has been reported that his
minutes will be cut down with no playoffs to play for, James has no regrets
signing with the storied Lakers franchise this past offseason and plans to use
this time to focus on coming back next year stronger and better, while having
faith that the likes of Ball and Ingram come back healthy, determined and focus
on getting better and helping the team get better as well.
“It’s a challenge, but I kind of
knew what I was getting myself into,” James said. “I didn’t expect to be out 5
½ weeks at a crucial point in our season. We also did not expect, you know, our
other brain of the team Rajon Rondo to be out another 5 ½ weeks.”
“We both got hurt at the same time
and I think it just took a hit on our team, you know, at that point in
time-which was a critical part going into the new year, so.”
James added, “But other than that,
I think our young guys are very pure. They love to play the game. It’s just
some things they have to continue to learn and we have to continue to be
patient with them, while they’re learning, and take their bumps and bruises.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are
courtesy of 3/9/19 8 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by State
Farm with Matt Winer, Lisa Leslie, and Brendan Haywood; www.nba.com/games/20190309/BOSLAL#/boxscore/recap;
3/9/19 www.nba.com story, “Reports: Lonzo Ball
Shut Down for Rest of Season;” 3/10/19 www.espn.com
story, “Sources: Ball Joins Ingram, Shut Down for Season,” by Ohm Youngmisuk;” www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/lal;
www.espn.com/nba/standings; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3026/rajon-rondo;
www.espn.com/nba/player/splits/_/3913176/brandon-ingram;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Los_Angeles_Lakers_seasons.
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