On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Lakers are set to welcome the Golden State Warriors into the Crypto.com Arena, as they look to build on their two-game win streak. Their second win in that stretch came on Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, taking down the Eastern Conference side, 119-115.
The victory came as a result of an offensive surge by the Lakers in the second half, outscoring the Sixers by ten points in the closing two quarters. A key contributor in this comeback was Austin Reaves, who dropped 21 of his total 35 points in the second half.
This more than made up for the absence of Luka Dončić, who left the court in the second quarter and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of Thursday night’s game against Philadelphia due to “leg soreness”. In the 15 minutes that Dončić spent on the court, he recorded ten points and four assists.
While Lakers fans everywhere must’ve been holding their breath about Dončić’s injury, reports on Friday afternoon indicated the latest injury wasn’t anything major, but that appearing in Saturday night’s match wasn’t guaranteed either. This appears to be the case, as Los Angeles has downgraded their star guard to “out” due to a left hamstring strain.
Regardless of how long this keeps him out of action, it isn’t Dončić’s first stint on the bench this season; he missed a week in October due to a finger sprain and a lower-leg injury. It will certainly be a loss for his teammates, though, given the 32.8 points and 8.6 assists per game that the 26-year-old averages.
The absence of Dončić comes at the wrong time for the Lakers, as they look to ride the wave of their 7-3 record over their previous ten games, which has helped them reach 31-19 and tie the Houston Rockets for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
The Lakers are set to take on the Warriors on Saturday night, with tip-off from Crypto.com Arena slated for 8:30 p.m. EST.
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