The Lakers will have an uphill battle against the Celtics, considering that LeBron James has now been downgraded to doubtful to play against their biggest rival.
Los Angeles will also be playing without
Marcus Smart and Luka Dončić. Luka is away from the team for personal reasons, and Smart is dealing with left lumbar muscle strain.
If LeBron doesn’t play, that’s a bummer, but it is expected. This is the second night of a back-to-back, and he’s still trying to get his body in shape. LeBron missed all of training camp and the first 14 games of the season.
During LA’s most recent back-to-back, LeBron missed a game due to left foot injury management. Now it’s being labeled specifically as left foot arthritis and his right sciatica issue, which caused him to miss so much time, is also mentioned.
The injury details are probably just needed for clarification of the reason for his missing this big game, but it’s worth noting.
LeBron didn’t have his best game on Thursday against the Raptors, but he had an iconic moment passing to Rui Hachimura for the game-winner when he could’ve taken a shot to keep his 10-point scoring streak alive.
Instead, the Lakers won and his double-digit streak died in the most beautiful way possible.
The Lakers will be missing LeBron’s gravity and impact on Friday if he’s out. When you factor in Marcus Smart, a former Celtic and a solid rotational player being out, and Luka’s unavailability, the Lakers’ bench just got a whole lot slimmer.
With so many key players out, expect it to be the Austin Reaves show.
This year has been the best season of this series yet. Reaves scored 51 points against the Kings when both stars were out this year, so he can clearly carry the Lakers when necessary. In the team’s last game against the Raptors, he scored 41, so it’s within his ability to put up gaudy numbers in a victory.
That might be what’s needed since they’ll be playing a tough Celtics team in Boston.
During Redick’s tenure, the Lakers have been able to stack wins even when shorthanded. If they win on Friday, it might be one of the more impressive victories of the season so far.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
