Lakers guard Avery Bradley to miss another week; Kyle Kuzma questionable for Dallas
EL SEGUNDO — For the first time in weeks, Avery Bradley hit the practice floor.
There was some good news Saturday following Bradley’s medical re-evaluation: The Lakers’ starting guard was cleared to start “basketball progression.” But the nebulous term means Bradley, who has dealt with a hairline fracture in his right leg, has further to go. He will also miss at least four more games, bringing his total to 13 missed starts for the 17-2 Lakers.
The Lakers haven’t lost a game among the nine Bradley has missed, but the impact has been felt defensively: The Lakers have slipped in defensive rating from first to fifth. They’ve sported just the 10th-best defensive rating in the NBA over the past nine games (106.3).
Bradley’s recovery has progressed from swimming and running on an Alter-G treadmill to now being able to bear full weight on his injured leg. He’s been a sideline presence as well. Frank Vogel was glad to see him back doing basketball activities.
“Well, I’m just happy for him because it’s no fun sitting, especially when he’s off to such a strong start to his season,” he said. “So I’m just happy he’s going to get out and sweat a little more and start his progression towards the future.”
There was other discouraging injury news: Kyle Kuzma did not practice Saturday afternoon, after spraining his left ankle late in the third quarter of Friday’s 125-103 victory over Washington. While he attempted to play through it, he left the game for the locker room early.
He’s questionable to play against Dallas on Sunday afternoon.
Aside from losing DeMarcus Cousins in the offseason, the Lakers have largely been dealing with minor, nagging injuries. Many of these have been borne by Anthony Davis, who has missed just one game but has been hit with shoulder and rib injuries during the season.
Davis said it’s unlikely that he, much less the rest of the Lakers, will change his style of play to be more cautious about getting hurt.
“I don’t play careful,” he said. “If I’m gonna play, I’m gonna play. And I do what I gotta do to help the team win. So I still play the same exact way. If I step on the floor, then I’m gonna give it my all.”
Lakers kick off challenging stretch
After going 14-1 in November, one of the best records in a single month in franchise history, the Lakers face a significantly rockier challenge.
After facing 11 opponents with losing records last month, December will flip the script: 10 of the Lakers’ 14 upcoming opponents are above .500. That comes with the additional difficulty of playing nine road games (the Lakers have yet to lose away from Staples Center).
While the Lakers spouted off typical cliches about taking one game at a time, they also recognized how difficult the slate will get. Vogel called for a mental reset from his team.
“Today we did talk about, ‘OK, in November we had a great month. That’s behind us. We’re 0-0 now,’” he said. “So every night is going to be a little more difficult than we faced last month. Yeah, we set the stage for what this month is going to look like and now, let’s lock into this one game.”
Locking into Sunday won’t be a problem for the Lakers, who are facing Dallas for the first time since a thrilling 119-110 overtime victory over the upstart Mavericks on the road. Since that game, second-year forward Luka Doncic has been lighting the league aflame: He’s third in the league in scoring (30.8 ppg), second in assists (9.6 apg) and 17th in rebounding (9.9 rpg). Following a 42-point outburst in Phoenix on Friday night, Doncic became only the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double while scoring at least 30 points per game.
His stat-sheet filling has drawn comparisons to Lakers star LeBron James, but the Lakers don’t necessarily agree with that. Vogel still acknowledged preparing to guard Doncic – who had 31 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds in the last game – was going to make him lose sleep. Danny Green compared him to another natural scorer with some craftiness.
“I compare him to a bigger Lou (Williams), where he gets to that left hand, and he gets that step back or fadeway, and you can’t really touch him,” Green said. “You’ve got to make sure you play good defense without fouling him.”
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