The Lakers (22-7) return home from a quick 2-game trip to face the Brooklyn Nets (18-12), who are riding a 4-game winning streak after a comeback W at Phoenix on Tuesday night. Tip is at 7:00 p.m. on TNT, after the 1-hour pregame show on Spectrum SportsNet.
Below are three things to know in advance of the matchup:
TWO STARS DOWN, BUT THREE LEFT!
We know that Anthony Davis will be out for a bit after straining his right calf at Denver. His fellow star on the opposite side, Kevin Durant, will also miss this game due to a hamstring strain. And yet, LeBron James, James Harden and Kyrie Irving will be ready to roll in the first meeting this season amongst these Finals hopefuls, and that right there is more firepower than the average NBA game.
LeBron continued his MVP case with a dominant performance in Minnesota on Tuesday, scoring 30 points with 13 boards and seven assists, and taking the game over in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, it was Harden carrying Brooklyn’s burden against the Suns, keying the erasing of a 24-point lead and hitting a go-ahead three in the final minute towards 38 points, 11 assists and seven boards. Irving sat out due to a sore back, leaving Harden to do the heavy lifting, but is listed as probable for a matchup with his 2016-NBA-Finals-winning teammate. Irving has played a highly-efficient 20 games, scoring 28.3 points on 53.4% FG’s and 44.2% from 3, plus 5.7 assists to give the Nets the best chance at having three All-Stars of any NBA team.
NO. 1 OFFENSE vs. NO. 1 DEFENSE
Because of the aforementioned absences of Davis and Durant, there’s a caveat attached to the matchup between the NBA’s most efficient offense since the Harden trade (120.9) vs. LAL’s No. 1 defense (105.2). With Durant as the best offensive player on Brooklyn, and AD the best defensive player for the Lakers, both teams will take a hit.
The Lakers have managed to rally around the flag in AD’s absence, going 5-1, with wins over MIN (2X), CHI, OKC (2X) and a loss at DET. Those four opponents happen to be some of the worst in the NBA record wise, however, so it’s a bit harder to get a true gauge for how the Lakers will operate without Davis for the short term. But the bottom line: they’re more than talented enough to keep racking up wins.
The Nets have had less success without KD, going 6-5, with wins against UTA, PHI, OKC, IND, SAC and PHX and losses to MEM (2X), CLE, PHI and DET. They’ve continued to score without him, averaging 120.0 points per game on 49.6% FG’s, however. But the Lakers are as well-equipped as any team to defend Harden and Irving, with Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Wesley Matthews all having strong defensive seasons on the perimeter. Of course, they’ll very much having Davis as a safety blanket both at the rim and on switches.
THE NEW GUYS
In the (super short) offseason, Lakers VP of Basketball Ops Rob Pelinka upgraded the roster of the defending champions, which isn’t typically an easy thing to do. And with AD unavailable, the foursome of Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Marc Gasol and Matthews should all have more opportunity to show why they were acquired. They did just that in Minnesota.
“To have the production that we had tonight from (those guys) was huge for us,” said LeBron. “We went out in the offseason and got some really good pieces, and tonight was an example of that with one of our biggest pieces out everybody came in and chipped in a little bit more and we’re going to need that during this stretch.”
L.A.’s returning players from the championship run would be understandably starting to fatigue at least a bit, but that’s part of the reason for bringing in some fresh, hungry legs in the offseason, which we should see more and more ahead of the All-Star break, starting with the Nets on Thursday.