NBA superstar LeBron James turns 38 years old today. Enjoy these video highlights featuring many of his best plays from the past year:
Category: Los Angeles Lakers Blog
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Scotty Pippen Jr. named G League Player of Week
Los Angeles Lakers two-way guard Scotty Pippen Jr. has been named the NBA G League Player of the Week for games played Monday, Dec. 12, through Saturday, Dec. 17, the league announced today.
Pippen Jr. averaged 26.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals while shooting 51.0 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point range as South Bay tallied a perfect 3-0 record for the week.
In South Bay’s win over Santa Cruz on Wednesday, Pippen Jr. scored 30 points (10-20 FG) with five assists, one rebound, one steal and one block, good for his fourth 30-point outing of the season. He finished with 27 points (9-14 FG), four rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in South Bay’s road win against the Clippers on Thursday. He also tallied 22 points, three rebounds, five assists and a career-high four steals in 32 minutes on Saturday night against the Kings, helping South Bay clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NBA G League Winter Showcase.
Through 15 games this season, Pippen Jr. is averaging 23.6 points (.453 FG%, .364 3P%), 3.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.7 steals in 28.8 minutes. Additionally, the guard is leading all reserves in scoring amongst players who have appeared in at least 10 games off the bench.
Anthony Davis exits early in Lakers win over Nuggets
Via the OC Register:
The start of the second half featured a concerning moment for Lakers fans everywhere: Anthony Davis didn’t come back out on the court.
Teammates, coaches and team officials have tied the success of the franchise to Davis’ high performance and good health – which has been seen too infrequently over the past two years. Davis sitting out the second half Friday night against the Denver Nuggets with a right foot injury struck as an ill omen.
Except something funny happened: It didn’t slow down the Lakers.
LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, the two stars who have often seemed like a clunky on-court fit, powered a surprising 126-108 victory against the Nuggets, the third-place team in the Western Conference. After two disappointing overtime losses in their previous three games against high-level opponents, the Lakers (12-16) came out hungry and hustling, in spite of a size advantage that never really became an issue.
Lakers waive Matt Ryan
The Los Angeles Lakers have requested waivers on forward Matt Ryan.
Ryan appeared in 12 games for the Lakers this season, averaging 3.9 points (.371 3FG%) and 1.2 rebounds in 10.8 minutes per game. The 25-year-old was originally signed by Los Angeles on Sept. 26.
Lakers guard Patrick Beverley suspended three games for incident with Deandre Ayton
Los Angeles Lakers guard Patrick Beverley has been suspended three games without pay for forcefully shoving Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton from behind and knocking him to the court, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations. The suspension was based in part on Beverley’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.
The incident, for which Beverley was assessed a technical foul and ejected, occurred with 3:55 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 115-105 loss to the Suns on Nov. 22 at Footprint Center.
Beverley will begin serving his suspension Nov. 25 when the Lakers face the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center.
To view the incident, click on the following link: https://www.nba.com/watch/video/lakers-vs-suns-11-22-22
After loss to Clippers, Lakers fall to 2-9
Via the Los Angeles Times:
His team is in the midst of yet another losing streak and his star player left the game Wednesday because of left leg soreness, but Lakers coach Darvin Ham said his mental state is not that of, “Woe is me.”
As a first-year coach, Ham said his spirits have been “great” despite a 2-9 record that has left the Lakers with the second-worst record in the NBA and LeBron James injured during the fourth quarter of their loss to the Clippers on Wednesday night.
The Lakers opened the season with a five-game losing streak, won two straight and now have lost four in a row.
Yet Ham’s view is more positive during these troubled times for the Lakers, saying things like how “blessed” he is to coach the Lakers and to live in sunny Los Angeles.
On the Lakers and their roster issues
The Lakers are off to a rough start this season, and if you look at the roster breakdown past the handful of obvious big names, there’s no clear reason to expect a big reversal of fortune. Via the OC Register:
Coach Darvin Ham called it being real. But for the Lakers, the truth might be a little too real.
On the heels of a 139-116 loss to the Utah Jazz, the Lakers’ eighth loss in just 10 games, Ham said his team needed to defend better, rebound better and communicate better. Then he reached outside of normal coaching discourse – into the Lakers’ payroll.
“We’re tax offenders, right?” Ham asked rhetorically. “We just can’t go out and start spending money everywhere to build a team. We have three big-time first-ballot future Hall of Famers that a chunk of our budget is being spent on. And there’s only so much left.”
The rookie head coach somewhat awkwardly exposed the flank of the front office, which would like to focus on anything else except the shaky build of the roster around three max-contract salary stars who still haven’t played well together, complemented by a host of largely veteran’s minimum contract players. And yet, after a discouraging start to the season, it’s an unavoidable sore spot as the organization teeters on the edge of another letdown year.
Lakers bring Russell Westbrook off bench in loss to Timberwolves
The 0-5 Lakers are still trying to find out the best way to utilize Russell Westbrook’s skill-set. Via ESPN.com:
Russell Westbrook came off the bench in a regular-season game for the first time since his rookie year in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and impressed his team by taking to the role.
“He was great,” said LeBron James, who said Westbrook’s energy “catapulted” L.A.’s overall effort. “He was great all game.”
Westbrook played 33 minutes, more than he had in any of the three games he started this season, and finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists. However, he shot 6-for-17 overall and 5-for-10 from the free throw line and was responsible for five of the Lakers’ 22 team turnovers.
Anthony Davis didn’t play, so LeBron started alongside a very limited supporting cast.
Lakers forward Cole Swider out with foot injury
Los Angeles Lakers team doctors have diagnosed two-way forward Cole Swider with a navicular stress reaction of the right foot.
Swider will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks, and further updates will be provided at that time.
Clippers face Lakers tonight
Via the OC Register:
The Clippers tip off against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in what is nominally a Lakers home game.
The Lakers are 0-1, LeBron James is wasting no time pointing fingers, and columnist Jim Alexander says it feels like they’re working on the next miniseries.
Into the Lakers’ old role as L.A.’s NBA championship hope step the Clippers, who have Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both healthy for the first time in 16 months and their stars sounding like leaders…
In Las Vegas, the Clippers have the second-lowest odds to win the Western Conference (a consensus +325, close behind the Warriors) and the fourth-lowest (+662) to win the NBA title, and a win-total line (52½) as high as anyone except the Celtics.