Without LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers try to rebound against the lowly Brooklyn Nets

NEW YORK – The successful pairing of National Basketball Association superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic will be put on hold for at least a week and possibly longer.

James will miss the game on March 10 (March 11, Singapore time) with a left groin injury when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Brooklyn Nets, who are on a seven-game losing streak.

James suffered a groin strain in the 111-101 road loss to the Boston Celtics on March 8 and will miss his fifth game this season.

He will sit out his first game since a 124-117 home win over the Indiana Pacers on Feb 8 due to ankle soreness. In his absences this season, Los Angeles are 3-1.

The Lakers are 8-3 with Doncic and James in the line-up, and their time together was interrupted when James was injured while defending a lay-up by Jaylen Brown with 6min 44sec remaining in the fourth quarter.

After struggling to get to the bench for a timeout, the four-time league Most Valuable Player slowly walked back to the locker room with the trainers.

While the Lakers (40-22) did not officially announce a timeline after seeing their eight-game winning streak stopped, multiple reports stated James could be out for a week or two.

That stretch includes the March 10 matchup, along with road games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets, before a five-game home stand, with the Bucks and Nuggets coming to Los Angeles.

“Obviously, to get injured at this time, those (groin) injuries are – I don’t want to say the worst, but they are tough to deal with,” Doncic said.

“So, just take his time. And we got to have as a team a next-man-up mentality.”

Doncic has averaged 24.7 points in 11 games since February’s stunning trade from the Dallas Mavericks. He scored at least 30 points for the third straight game and fifth time with the Lakers, posting 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter at Boston after Los Angeles trailed by as many as 22.

“It doesn’t matter who’s in the line-up, we have to play our game,” James said. “We’ve had guys in and out of the line-up the majority of the year. And we’ve had guys in and out of the line-up the last six weeks. Nothing changes.”

Meanwhile, the Nets (21-42) are on their second seven-game losing streak this season. They also dropped seven in a row from Jan 15 to 27, including a 102-101 road defeat by the Lakers on Jan 17.

After allowing 97.8 points in a 7-2 stretch, the Nets are giving up 117.8 to match their longest skid under first-year coach Jordi Fernandez.

Brooklyn blew a 22-point lead in a 121-119 home loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 6 and a 17-point edge in a 105-102 setback to hosts Charlotte Hornets two days later.

Against the Warriors, the Nets had a 20-point lead through the opening quarter before being outscored 106-84 the rest of the way.

At Charlotte, Brooklyn held a 17-point lead in the final minute of the first half but were outscored 62-44 in the second half.

The Nets held a 14-point lead with seven minutes left on March 8, and D’Angelo Russell finished with 28 points but did not score the rest of the game as they were outscored 22-5 and gave up the final 12 points.

“We had the lead and we were not responsible to finish the game,” Fernandez said. “You could tell how our energy and our engagement was up and down. That’s immature.”

On March 9, James Harden scored 29 points, and Kawhi Leonard added 17 with the game-winning basket at the overtime buzzer as the Los Angeles Clippers boosted their play-off prospects with a 111-110 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings in Inglewood.

In Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points to lead the West-leading Thunder to their seventh consecutive victory, a 127-103 rout over the visiting Denver Nuggets.

In Milwaukee, Max Strus had 17 points to lead eight Cavaliers who scored at least nine as East-leading Cleveland defeated the Bucks 112-100. REUTERS