LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers’ miserable start to the National Basketball Association season continued on Wednesday after they lost their ninth game this term, with their 114-101 defeat by the Los Angeles Clippers compounded by injury to star player LeBron James.
The four-time NBA Most Valuable Player left the court due to discomfort in his leg and groin with less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after challenging Paul George, who shone for the Clippers with 29 points.
James, who was having his best match of this season with a game-high 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes, will be examined by team doctors on Thursday, Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.
“I feel good, besides the injury,” James said. “We’ll get pictures on it tomorrow and go from there. Didn’t do anything strenuous on the play. When I landed, I felt a little spasm or strain in my groin. Immediately, I asked to come out on the next play down.”
The 37-year-old is averaging 24.9 points this season, which would be his lowest rate since his rookie campaign with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003-04. He is also contributing 8.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 2022-23.
James missed a game for the first time this season on Monday, sitting out the Lakers’ away loss to the Utah Jazz due to left foot soreness, before returning to action on Wednesday.
“We’ll let him see our medical staff first,” Ham said. “It’s just a lot of adversity. He’s been trying his heart out just to be there for us and play at a high level. I thought he had it going really well tonight.
“But it’s the NBA season, man. You’ve got to be ready for a little bit of everything, so we’ll see what the results are once he gets evaluated and be ready to move forward.”
It has indeed been a difficult season for the Lakers, who fell to 2-9 with their fourth consecutive loss, leaving them with the second-worst record in the league. Only the Houston Rockets (2-10) are worse.
It was also the Lakers’ ninth consecutive loss to the Clippers, who had Norman Powell adding 18 points off the bench and Reggie Jackson scoring 14 at the Crypto.com Arena. George has scored at least 26 points in six consecutive games.
Anthony Davis added 21 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, while both Russell Westbrook and Troy Brown Jr managed 14 points each.
With the game tied 71-71 and three minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Clippers went on a 16-4 run to take a 12-point lead into the final period. They pushed the advantage to 95-82 with 9min 49sec remaining on a three-pointer by Powell and went ahead 103-89 with 5:31 left before putting the game away.
Over at the Paycom Centre, Jevon Carter scored a career-high 36 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 136-132 double-overtime victory over hosts Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. Carter shot 15 of 27 from the field, including five of 10 from three-point range.
The Bucks led 112-100 with five minutes left in regulation before Shia Gilgeous-Alexander scored 10 of Oklahoma City’s next 13 points to fuel a 19-7 run that sent the game into overtime.
Grayson Allen scored four of his 18 points in the second overtime, all free-throws on back-to-back possessions in the closing seconds, to help the Bucks stretch their lead to six and put the game away. REUTERS
