LOS ANGELES – With the week and a half of the All-Star Game to rest your 36-year-old legs, Lebron James said he’s ready for the final straight as the Los Angeles Lakers try to defend their title.
“It’s time,” James told reporters in a video conference Thursday before the Lakers ’first practice since the break ended. “It’s time to get ready and make that change, this last lap going into the postseason … I’m not going to look ahead and say, ‘Okay, let’s take this off, let’s take this off.'”
The 18-year veteran did not play in the Lakers ’last game before halftime, a 123-120 loss to the Sacramento Kings on the second night of a seven in a row, to rest his left ankle. It has been the only game James has missed this season, averaging 25.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists to put his name in the MVP conversation.
Between losing the Kings game and the break, James had 10 days off for Friday’s home game against the Indiana Pacers, except for the 13 minutes he played in the All-Star Game before being left out of the second half. .
“I use the first half of the season like in gear 1, 2 and 3, and then in the second half more like 4, 5, 6, and then when the playoffs start, you’re at 7.” James said. “And that’s the way I’ve always adapted in the last few years of my career, actually just going up more, more and more as the months go by as the games progress to the playoffs.”
However, two other Lakers starters, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol, remain stuck in neutral.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Davis, sidelined by tendinosis and a right calf strain since Feb. 14, would not play against the Pacers, but would be reevaluated by the team’s doctors on Friday night. .
Davis lifted weights at the Lakers practice facility Thursday, but did not participate in group practice with the team, Vogel said.
The Lakers are 3-7 since Davis came out, including the loss to Denver on Feb. 14 when Davis no longer played in the second half.
Gasol will miss its third consecutive game due to the league’s health and safety protocols. Vogel said the Lakers “really don’t have a timeline” for when the Catalan could return.
Third-year winger Kostas Antetokounmpo will also be out against the Pacers due to health and safety protocols, according to the team.
With Gasol absent, the Lakers will hire center-back Damian Jones, who signed a second 10-day contract Thursday. Jones totaled 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks in 30 minutes combined in three appearances before halftime.
“I want to see more of what he did,” Vogel said of Jones. “He played well for us. He plays the role of a threat. Don’t try to play off that lane offensively.”
“Being a blocker and a rebounder and a threat offensively and defensively, being able to handle the center, being a shot blocker, playing our pick-and-roll covers and obviously bouncing the ball and matching the pivots “Bigger from other teams is what we asked of him last week. I think he did well, and we’ll keep looking at him for the next 10 days.”