The Los Angeles Lakers‘ playoff hopes have been fading for weeks. Now, to stay alive on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns, they’ll have to find a way to win without LeBron James.
James, a four-time winner of the NBA’s most valuable player award, will be forced to miss the pivotal clash with the Suns due to a nagging left-ankle injury that has compromised his availability over the last week.
The 37-year-old missed two games last week with the injury as well as Sunday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, which the Lakers lost, putting them a full two games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Los Angeles plays only four more times this season. In order to have a chance at the play-in, the team would need to pull off a 3-1 or 4-0 stretch, with the Spurs winning no more than one of their final four games.
James’ ankle injury has been bothersome for some time, though the extent to which it has slowed him has varied. Frank Vogel, the Lakers head coach, has largely taken a cautious approach with James’ health, resting him even as the must-win stakes of each game escalated.
In his most recent appearance, last Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans, James shone in a narrow Los Angeles loss, putting up 38 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Throughout the season as a whole, when healthy, James has been a force reminiscent of his MVP years. Across 56 games, he’s averaged 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists.
Still, his individual success has not translated into Lakers wins, as injuries to other stars like Anthony Davis and an aging roster that never materialized into the contender management thought it could led to a largely forgettable season for the storied franchise.
With Lakers’ playoff hopes in peril, ankle injury sidelines LeBron James against Suns
Source: Healthy Lifestyle
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