James again questionable
He played against the Clippers on Christmas, but he might not play in Portland tonight.
After practice Friday, LeBron James stood near the free-throw line closest to the Lakers’ offices facing a group of people. Coach Frank Vogel was there, as were assistants Jason Kidd, Lionel Hollins, Miles Simon and Mike Penberthy. General manager Rob Pelinka wandered over at some point, as did director of media relations Alison Bogli.
It didn’t appear to be a serious conversation. There were occasional laughs and a generally casual disposition. Most of his teammates were leaving the court. James had just participated in the no-contact portion of that day’s practice. Later, he stayed after practice to shoot threes-pointers, cursing himself when he missed.
The groin contusion that has James listed as questionable for Saturday’s game at Portland didn’t seem to be of grave concern. He had also been questionable heading into the Lakers’ Christmas Day loss to the Clippers, but the injury report listed a thoracic muscle strain as his injury. That injury has been removed from the report. James declined to speak to reporters Friday.
“We’ll see how he’s feeling,” Vogel said. “If he wakes up and goes into the gym tomorrow and feels 100% and there’s no pain, and he wants to play, we’re gonna play him. But certainly if he’s limited or at risk, then we’re gonna be intelligent.”
James missed five weeks last season because of a tear on the left side of his groin. James said Wednesday night that this injury is on the other side of his body.
Anthony Davis, who sustained a right knee injury Sunday, is listed as probable for the game in Portland. Davis played Wednesday against the Clippers and participated fully in Friday’s practice.
“Feels good,” Davis said when asked about his knee Friday. “Feels real good.”
The Lakers have played only one game this season without James — a 24-point loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“We’ll definitely look at that game,” Vogel said. “That was sort of the next-man-up blueprint we had. We didn’t win that game or play well. So, we’ll definitely look at that and just look at the matchup as well with Portland and make the decisions about what we got to do to win the next one.”
Too many threes?
The Lakers attempted 45 three-pointers against the Clippers, the most they’d attempted since March 28, 2008, when they took 45 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
That day the Lakers made 33% of their attempts. On Wednesday the Lakers made only 12 of those attempts for 26.7%.
It was a subject of conversation as they went through their film and practice sessions Friday.
“The first half it was all good looks,” Davis said. “We touched the paint 33 times and kicked it out for threes and we made a great deal of them. Some went in and out. And then in the second half we only touched the paint 18 times, and our shot selection from three wasn’t as great. So, tale of two halves. But I think our three-point shooting has been great.”
Davis isn’t exactly right about the team’s three-point shooting. The Lakers have made fewer than a third of the threes they’ve attempted in 12 of their 31 games this season.
Overall they have made 35.2% of their three-point attempts, which ranks 18th in the NBA.
Danny Green saw the Lakers’ pace as an issue for their threepoint shooting Wednesday.
“I think it’s kind of been a trend, it’s just easy to overlook it when you win games,” Green said. “It’s a little more glaring when you lose four in a row.”
TONIGHT
AT PORTLAND
When: 7
On the air: TV: Spectrum SportsNet; Radio: 710, 1330
Update: The Trail Blazers (14-18) have lost two in a row, including a 121-115 loss at Utah on Thursday, when they erased a 23-point deficit in the second half. The Western Conference-leading Lakers (24-7) have lost four in a row.