LOS ANGELES – With a week and a half of star break behind him to rest his 36-year-old legs, LeBron James said he’s locked in the home stretch as the Los Angeles Lakers try to defend their title.
“The time has come,” 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 looking forward to saying, ‘Okay, let’s get this out, let’s get this out.’
“No, the time has come for me.”
The 18-year veteran settled for Los Angeles ’last game before the break (a 123-120 loss to the Sacramento Kings on the second night in a row) to rest his left ankle. It was the only game James has missed this season as he has averaged 25.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists to put his name in the MVP’s conversation.
Between losing the Kings game and the break, James will have had 10 days off in Friday’s home game against the Indiana Pacers, except for the 13 minutes he played in the All-Star Game before coming out in the second half.
“I take advantage of the first half of the season as a 1, 2 and 3 team and in the second half I’m in 4, 5, 6 and when the playoffs start, you’re in 7.” James said. “And that’s the way I’ve always adjusted during the last years of my career, really increasing more and more as the months go by as the games move into the playoffs.”
However, a pair of Lakers starters (Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol) remain trapped in the neutral.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Davis, sidelined from tendinosis and a calf strain in his right leg since Feb. 14, will not play against the Pacers, but will be reevaluated by the team’s doctors in the sand. Friday night.
Davis lifted weights at the Lakers facility Thursday but did not participate in group practice with the team, Vogel said.
Los Angeles has gone just 3-7 since Davis came out, including the loss to Denver on Feb. 14, when Davis planted badly on his right leg and didn’t play in the second half.
Gasol will miss its third consecutive game due to the league’s safety and health protocols. Vogel said the Lakers “don’t really have a schedule” for when Gasol can return.
Third-year striker Kostas Antetokounmpo is also against the Pacers because of safety and health protocols, according to the team.
In Gasol’s absence, LA will take another look at center Damian Jones, who signed a second ten-day contract on Thursday. Jones added 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks in 30 minutes combined in three appearances before the break.
“I want to see more of what he did,” Vogel said of Jones. “I thought he was playing well for us. He plays the role of a wolf threat. Don’t try to play off that lane offensively.
“Being an explorer, rebounder and lob threatens offensively and defensively, being able to control the center, being a shot blocker, playing on our pick-up covers and obviously getting the ball back and matching the bigger centers of other teams that’s what we asked him to do last week. I thought he did well and we’ll keep watching him for the next ten days. “