On Tuesday night, LeBron James was ruled out of the Los Angeles Lakers' heavyweight clash against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. James' absence is not exactly what the Lakers need right now, especially when they're still jostling for a more favorable position in the Western Conference playoff picture. After all, no rational basketball analyst would think that any of James' teams are better off without him.
However, the Lakers are finding ways to win despite the absence of their best player; after the Bucks took control of the first three quarters, they came storming back from 19 down in the fourth, sending the game to two overtime periods and eventually winning in the end, 128-124.
After this win, the Lakers have moved to 6-4 on games without LeBron James; as pointed out by StatMuse, the Lakers have a better winning percentage (60 percent) with James out than when he's on the court (54.8 percent).
Now, it's downright disingenuous for this to suggest that the Lakers are better off without James. This might be what the Twitter (X) account that posted the stat is suggesting to bait out interactions from fans, but this is simply not the case.
However, what this statistic is showing is that the Lakers are not mere pushovers anymore without LeBron James. Last season, they went 13-14 (.481) without him compared to 30-25, (.545 win rate) with him. Two seasons ago, they went 8-18 (.308) with James out (25-31, .446 with him). And then during the 2020-21 season, they went 12-15 (.444) with James nursing an ankle injury (30-15, .667 with James healthy).
This should give Lakers fans some confidence that the team is breaking their trend of dropping off precipitously whenever James is out.
Lakers' balanced effort sparks comeback victory
With LeBron James out, the responsibility to create offense spreads out towards multiple players, with Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, and Rui Hachimura all assuming bigger roles in support of Anthony Davis. Stellar efforts were exactly what the Lakers got out of those three in their stunning comeback over the Bucks.
Reaves, Russell, and Hachimura combined for 74 of their 128 points, providing immense support for Davis after he scored a game-high 34 points to lead the way. Moreover, Reaves had a triple-double, adding 14 rebounds and 10 assists to his 29-point tally, while Russell had 12 assists; the playmaking the Purple and Gold got out of those two was immense.
The Lakers' win over the Bucks had similar vibes to their win over them back on March 8; they were without LeBron James as well during that contest, and it took herculean efforts from the aforementioned quartet to pull out that 123-122 win.
This latest victory moves the Lakers to 40-32 on the season, and they remain within striking distance of the sixth spot in the Western Conference standings, as they're currently just three games behind the Dallas Mavericks.
LeBron James' injury status
The Lakers decided to sit LeBron James out of their win against the Bucks on Tuesday night because they were on the front end of a back-to-back. (They will be taking on the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow night.) James has admitted to having plenty of wear and tear on his body, which is no surprise given how much mileage he has throughout his 21-year career thus far, so they are merely being “strategic and smart” when it comes to managing his workload.
With the Grizzlies having nothing to play for but lottery odds, there might be a chance that James sits out both games of the back-to-back set especially when the Lakers have been proving that they're capable of grinding out wins despite his absence.
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