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Dave McMenaminMar 8, 2025, 11:26 PM ET
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- Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
- Coated the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.
BOSTON — The Lakers’ eight-game successful streak got here to an finish Saturday in opposition to the Celtics through a rating of 111-101. However Los Angeles may have misplaced extra than simply the sport.
Lakers celebrity LeBron James exited with 6:44 closing within the fourth quarter with what the group is asking a left groin pressure and didn’t go back.
James downplayed the damage, pronouncing there was once “no longer a lot worry” and vowing to “cross day after day” in treating it.
Till he undergoes scientific imaging, it’s too early to mission a correct timetable for a way lengthy James may well be out, resources advised ESPN. Alternatively, one supply mentioned the preliminary concept is that the damage will sideline James for weeks, no longer days.
“I feel we simply must proceed to play onerous and play protection,” Lakers trainer JJ Redick mentioned after the loss.
James had simply scored with 7:05 closing to drag the Lakers inside seven issues, down 92-85, once they trailed through as many as 22. James mentioned the damage befell when he pivoted across the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown to attain within the lane.
“Possibly prolonged it slightly bit an excessive amount of,” James mentioned.
The 22-year veteran mentioned his thoughts straight away went to Christmas Day 2018, when he suffered a torn groin that brought about him to omit the following 17 video games, stifling Los Angeles’ momentum in his first season with the franchise.
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“I have been there sooner than, and I do know what form of damage you might be coping with,” James mentioned.
Requested to check Saturday’s damage to that one, James answered: “No, it is not as unhealthy as that. It is not as unhealthy as that.” He then became round and rapped his knuckles at the picket locker in the back of him not to jinx himself together with his analysis.
When James left the ground to visit the locker room for analysis, the Lakers trailed through 9. With Luka Doncic main the rate, scoring 14 of his 34 issues within the fourth, the Lakers have been ready to chop the Celtics result in 4 sooner than Boston pulled away for excellent.
“I appeared on the rating. … I used to be like, ‘Oh s—,'” James mentioned. “The ones are moments you are living for, particularly in a recreation like this, no longer being in the market. So I used to be cheering at the guys whilst I used to be again right here [in the locker room].”
James completed with 22 issues on 11-for-23 capturing (0-for-6 from 3) with 14 rebounds and 9 assists.
“Clearly, to get injured at the moment, the ones [groin] accidents are — I do not wish to say the worst, however they’re difficult to care for,” Doncic mentioned. “So simply take his time. And we were given to have as a group a next-man-up mentality.”
Los Angeles is getting into a treacherous stretch of its agenda, enjoying six contests within the subsequent 8 days — together with two video games apiece in opposition to the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Dollars.
Even with the loss, Los Angeles is 18-4 in its previous 22 video games and sits No. 3 within the Western Convention standings, a half-game in the back of No. 2 Denver.
James, 40, who has performed in 58 of the Lakers’ 62 video games thru Saturday, has been an enormous a part of their luck, averaging 25 issues on 51.7% capturing (38.4% from 3), 8.5 assists and eight.2 rebounds.
Alternatively, Los Angeles additionally has been successful video games with its group protection — ranked No. 1 in potency within the NBA since Jan. 30 — and with the on-ball contributions of Doncic and Austin Reaves.
“We have had many eventualities the place a participant offers with some form of damage or a business or no matter it’s, and we now have executed a truly excellent process of bouncing again,” Reaves mentioned. “And I do not be expecting the rest [now].”
James will proceed to shuttle with the group on its four-game travel, with the Brooklyn Nets up subsequent on Monday.
“We will compete as opposed to any individual on this league,” James mentioned. “So we will be effective. We were given to proceed to construct our behavior. We are not the place [the Celtics] are, the protecting champion. And they have been enjoying basketball in combination for a very long time. They usually were given a really perfect chemistry and know what they wish to do. We made an acquisition overdue within the season, and we are nonetheless seeking to construct. And we wish to get complete.
“That is the No. 1 purpose for us: How we will get complete and get all our guys in combination and notice precisely what we seem like.”
