A TWIST OF FATE?
James tweaks ankle in regular-season finale but is ready for Warriors
Of all the bad fortune that slid the Lakers’ way, the worst might have happened midway through the fourth quarter. They already knew there was nothing for which to play.
Looking for rhythm and two more points, LeBron James dashed on a fastbreak to score, but landed awkwardly on his right ankle, the one that’s caused him to miss 26 of the last 30 games of the season.
James grimaced, walking slowly with a pronounced limp to the bench. And on a night when the Lakers (42-30) were finally locked into the No. 7 seed in the West and a spot in the play-in tournament against the Golden State Warriors, James’ ankle tweak was the biggest kick in the shin of all.
Coach Frank Vogel suggested that the Lakers star will be “good to go” for Wednesday at 7 p.m., with the winner advancing to a series with the No. 2 Phoenix Suns. The loser will play the winner of No. 9 Memphis and No. 10 San Antonio, with the stakes of that second game being a series against the No. 1 Utah Jazz, or staying home for good.
James himself said of what he called “a tweak” that he would be in the lineup come Wednesday: “I’ll be fine.”
There was little optimism that the Lakers could win their way in before a 110-98 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans that ended up ringing hollow. The Lakers bid to repeat as NBA champions will face a daunting historical challenge: the No. 7 seed has never won it all.
While the Lakers successfully won out the season on a five-game streak, it was the loss beforehand in Portland that ultimately dropped them down to the NBA’s newest postseason product. The Trail Blazers finished clinching the No. 6 seed
with a 132-116 blowout over the Denver Nuggets, who rested their starters in the second half.
The one benefit the Lakers get by being No. 7 is home-court advantage in both potential games. But little else has gone the way for the Lakers, whose season has been constantly sideswiped by injuries. James and Anthony Davis missed more than 25 games each this season. The Lakers were 21-6 to start the year before Davis went down on Feb. 14.
“When we’re healthy, we saw what we can be,” Davis said. “When we’re not healthy, this is the position that we’re in.”
The 27 minutes before James fell were largely encouraging for the star, who hasn’t been healthy since March 20 when he was injured against the Atlanta Hawks. He scored 25 points with six assists in just his second game back, including a few sprints off of steals to spur a somewhat dormant Lakers transition game.
At least one of the Lakers’ Hail Marys connected on Sunday night — an outlet pass down the flank from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to James that wound up as a smooth layup from the baseline.
No one in the Lakers starting lineup played more than Davis’ 30 minutes, with all five starters reaching double-digit scoring. New Orleans’ best players were largely sidelined, and the blowout in Portland drained the game of what little suspense remained.
Vogel dismissed the idea that the Lakers had put their stars at risk as James played out fourth-quarter minutes, saying with all the games the 36-year-old has missed this season, he couldn’t play continually in fear of what might happen.
“Guys gotta get in rhythm and have the ability to play well once the playoffs come around so it’s always a balance between making sure guys are healthy and making sure they’re in rhythm and finding that cohesiveness,” he said. “And I was happy with striking that balance the right way tonight and I’m excited about where we are going into the playoffs.”
The Lakers-Warriors matchup is probably a dream scenario for the league, unveiling a new playin format, but it’s a lump in the Lakers’ throat. The Lakers took a 2-1 series lead in the regular season, but the Warriors have played well of late, headlined by an old adversary of James — Steph Curry.
The 33-year-old guard finished as the NBA’s leading scorer with 32 points per game, dragging a beatup Warriors squad to a topeight finish. And surprisingly, James seems to be one of the biggest boosters of his MVP candidacy.
“We’re playing, in my opinion, the MVP of our league this year in Steph,” he said.
James is still frustrated by the injury that has consumed more than a third of his season, increduloussounding still that Solomon Hill of the Atlanta Hawks dived into his ankle. Besides the chance to avoid the play-in tournament, it likely robbed him of his own MVP-caliber campaign that was gaining steam. Thinking about the wasted potential still brings him pain.
“I’ve hated every moment of that, but it is what it is,” he said. “This is the time, the time is now and I’m ready for it.”