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The Los Angeles Lakers (41-38) avoided a classic trap game and escaped with a 135-133 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz at Vivint Arena on Tuesday to improve to 4-0 on their “get back” road trip. Whether LeBron James, Anthony Davis, or D'Angelo Russell will play on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers remains an open question.
Anthony Davis (21 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 42 minutes) is still monitoring a stress injury in his foot.
LeBron James (37 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 38 minutes) is playing through a tendon tear in his right foot that may require offseason surgery. James missed a potential buzzer-beater at the end of regulation in Utah but delivered the game-winning layup in overtime.
LeBron James with the CLUTCH game-winning finish 💪pic.twitter.com/0UN7E2bYTY
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 5, 2023
“I drew it up. I wanted to go quick,” explained LeBron. “And then I had to redeem myself at the end of regulation. I smoked the layup. Had to make up for it.”
OMG LeBron's Lakers teammates have become incredible at goat noises. Like uncannily good. https://t.co/ReDoIE2pGS
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) April 5, 2023
D'Angelo Russell sat out the Jazz bout with left foot soreness. Even Austin Reaves — who came up huge once again with 28 points and six assists — had to temporarily exit with a banged-up right shoulder, though he quickly returned.
“Unless you chop his arm off, you’re not gonna keep him out of the mix,” Ham said about Reaves. FWIW, Reaves said his arm was “never better” because “we won.”
The Lakers — who have spent the last eight days on the road — will arrive back in Los Angeles in the wee hours on Wednesday.
After the ugly, fatigued win against the Jazz which the Lakers surrendered a 10-point lead in the final 1:43 — a win nonetheless — Ham said the Lakers have “our short-term business to take care of and our long-term business to take care of,” in regards to LeBron, AD, and DLo's status for Wednesday. The Lakers and Clippers both sit at 41-38, tied for No. 6 in the Western Conference standings. The Clips have won 10 straight games against the Lakers and own the tiebreaker.
“We'll assess them in the morning,” said Ham. “We'll figure it all out.”
“I haven't played in a back-t0-back in a long time,” said Anthony Davis about his prospects to play on Wednesday. “We'll all get on a phone call tomorrow and go from there.”
LeBron on his thinking about playing tomorrow vs. the Clippers: "I'm thinking about putting my feet in an ice bucket, to be honest. Haven't played that many minutes in about five and a half weeks." https://t.co/Wf2kmyT4gS
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) April 5, 2023
Ham said the Lakers just want to escape the snowfall in Utah and credited the Lakers' medical staff for getting guys ready amid quick turnarounds. AD controversially sat out the second leg of a B2B a few weeks back — a regrettable loss to the Houston Rockets.
On the one hand, Wednesday's showdown at Crypto.com Arena is arguably the biggest game of the season and the biggest Lakers-Clippers game in … well, ever (they've never matched up in the playoffs). On the other hand, maybe the Lakers wouldn't totally mind ceding the No. 5 seed and aiming for a first-round meeting with the inexperienced Sacramento Kings.
Either way, the Lakers will fly home as winners of seven of their last eight games, 11 of their last 15, and are 16-7 since their trade deadline acquisitions debuted on Feb. 11. Look out.
