LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Down 0-1 in their first-round NBA playoff series with the Portland Trail Blazers, the lineup of Los Angeles Lakers could look a little different for Game 2 on Thursday (9 pm ET, ESPN).
Point guard Rajon Rondo, sidelined the past 5 weeks with a fractured thumb on his right hand demanding that he leave the bubble to undergo surgery, was upgraded by the team to doubtful for Game 2.
“Rondo is working really hard to get back and we’ll have him back when he’s ready, not before,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said after practice Wednesday. “We will list him as dubious, which by definition means 50-50.”
Vogel received praise for the 14-year-old veteran.
“If you have someone who has the ability to create like Rondo does, that helps your crime,” he said. “Sure Rondo would help everything we do.”
LA could use the help. The Lakers spent part of their practice time in an atmospheric movie session, dissecting tape of their underwhelming 100-93 loss in Game 1 in which LA shot 35.1% of the field, 15.6% of 3 and 64.5% of the foul line.
“Everyone talks,” said Lakers center JaVale McGee, rattling off LeBron James, Danny Green, Alex Caruso and Rondo among the most opinionated. “Every time Coach starts with film, he always says it’s not a good film session when everyone’s quiet, coaches and players. We’re used to being vocal.”
Kyle Kuzma was not sorry to speak about his role when asked about the starting lineup, only volunteering his services to join the Lakers’ first unit that dropped itself in the first quarter Tuesday before Bird made a change.
“It’s my confidence to say, ‘Yes,’ but I’m not the coach,” Kuzma said when asked if he could help the starters. “I’m just a player. That, I’m just doing what they ask me to do. That’s my job. Staring at my role. Playing with effort, playing with enthusiasm, and when they call me to start, then apparently they have you guys saw what I did, what I do, I just come in and just try to be myself. So, play hard and play free. “
Vogel would not reveal if he had any changes in the lineup, but acknowledged that a rotation in the regular season does not always work in the playoffs.
“It’s appropriate as needed and in any series with any team, it would be something I would consider and evaluate based on a particular matchup,” he said. “The way you started over the course of a season is not always how you stay through a sand game series. But as a 1-seed and the team with the best record in the West, I have confidence in the lineup that we have. But, you know, we’ll continue to evaluate all that game game after game, just like we would in any playoff series. “
If Kuzma gets the nod, it would mean Anthony Davis would move to the 5 and McGee, who started all 68 games he played this season for LA – plus the playoff opener – would come off the bench.
Portland outscored the Lakers by five in 21 minutes in Game 1 with Davis at 5 and Kuzma at 4. LA’s offense shot slightly better than its overall game output – 41% (16-of-39) – but was 0 -of-11 out of 3.
During the regular season, however, the Davis-Kuzma frontcourt pairing had a net rating of plus-3.8 points per 100 possessions in a much larger sample size (406 minutes), according to data compiled by ESPN Stats & Information.
Davis, who shot just 8-for-24 in Game 1, blossomed especially with that pairing, averaging 29.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per 36 minutes on 57 percent shots.
McGee pointed out that by keeping him the starting center, Davis “gets to play the position that he really wants to play who is the 4th.”
However, he acknowledged that the Lakers had succeeded with Davis occupying that position.
“I really feel like both ways change the mindset of the defense to where they need to move for both and they do not know what to do, if we’re both there or if it’s just one big one, that’s him the 5 , “he said. “I feel it’s good that we’re mixing it up and making sure we keep the defense restless.”
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