Despite being put in an exceedingly tough position by the scheduling gods, LeBron James and Anthony Davis suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 125-118 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena — and played into the final minute.
It was the Lakers' 11th straight loss to the Clippers and 36th in their last 43 meetings. The result all but assured that the Lakers (41-39) will have to go through the play-in tournament unless they can defeat the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz and both the Clippers and Golden State Warriors lose their final two games.
In other words: Wednesday posed arguably the most important game of the Lakers' season (and perhaps the most consequential Lakers-Clippers meeting ever). The implications seemingly factored into the decision to play LeBron, AD (and D'Angelo Russell) on the second leg of a back-to-back and coming off eight days on the road. The stars didn't check out until 27 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter — even though the Clippers led by double-digits for most of the final period.
Ham said that his team discussed throwing in the towel during a timeout with around six minutes to go and the Lakers down by 18, but a “group decision” was made to make one more push.
“Just try to give them a chance to compete,” Ham said. “We talked about it in that huddle, saying ‘we wanted to give it a couple minutes before we pull the plug to see if we can make a dent into the deficit.”
Ham said LeBron and AD — who were both game-time decisions — were limited to a minutes “range” though not an official restriction. He insisted that the Lakers' training staff would not have allowed him to play them as much as Kawhi Leonard, who scored 25 points in 43 minutes and didn't rest in the second half.
The Lakers did close the gap to single digits with under two minutes to go. 24 hours earlier, Los Angeles surrendered a 10-point lead to the Utah Jazz in the final 1:43 before escaping in overtime.
“We went over but they got into a groove,” Ham said about LeBron and AD's load. “You just try to be as responsible as possible with the players’ health … We did what we had to do to give ourselves a chance to win, not only tonight but to keep our players in good standing health-wise going forward.”
"We did what we had to do to give ourselves a chance to win not only tonight, but to keep our players in good standing healthwise moving forward."
Darvin Ham on Kawhi Leonard playing 43 minutes and limiting LeBron and AD 🗣pic.twitter.com/0znseYRJvy
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 6, 2023
The Lakers — who were stuck in a snowstorm in Minnesota, flew to Houston, then got stuck in another snowstorm in Utah over the past week — were predictably sluggish from the jump. They fell behind 15-3 to a Clippers team boosted by Russell Westbrook's vengefulness and four days of rest. (Ham and AD expressed pride in how the Lakers' “battled” the Clippers and Jazz and “weathered” the difficult circumstances.)
“Obviously, we had a tough game last night,” added Austin Reaves. “A lot of players logged a lot of minutes. At the same time, everybody does that in the league, so no excuses.”
Davis, who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in 32 minutes, said he knew all along that he would lace it up due to the importance of the matchup.
“I probably had it in my mind that I was gonna play regardless just because of the game.”
That said, AD was unsure how the lingering bone spur injury in his foot would recover from its first B2B since early November.
“I’ve been better, but I’ll be fine,” he said about his body.
LeBron, who had 3 points and 5 turnovers in the first half but somehow finished with 33/8/7, said he decided about an hour before the game that he would give it a whirl.
LeBron James passes to Russell Westbrook on the Clippers bench.
Russ pointed to him and said ‘good pass!’ 😂
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 6, 2023
“It was one of the toughest games we had coming off the road trip,” LeBron lamented. “Getting back in late last night over an overtime game … It was one of those scheduling conflicts.”
James did note that the extra reps he and AD logged down the stretch can at least help the Lakers build cohesion before the playoffs and produce more film to dissect.
As for whether LeBron and AD will be available for Friday's critical showdown with Kevin Durant and the Suns?
“We'll see how everyone wakes up in the morning,” said Darvin Ham.
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