True Lakers Fans

(23-6) at (10-17)

Monday, December 18, 2017, 7:30 PM PDT
Staples Center • Los Angeles, CA

Referees: Bill Kennedy (#55), Curtis Blair (#74), Leon Wood (#40)

Replay Center: Bennie Adams, Tony Brown, Mitchell Ervin, Scott Wall

Line: OFF

National: NBATV





GAME PREVIEW: WARRIORS AT LAKERS

by NBA.com

Lakers to honor Bryant with short-handed Warriors in town

LOS ANGELES -- The Golden State Warriors will remain short-handed when they play the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Monday night.

Golden State point guard Stephen Curry is still out with a sprained right ankle sustained Dec. 4 against the New Orleans Pelicans. Curry, who was originally estimated to be sidelined a minimum of two weeks, went through light shooting drills during practice Saturday and will be re-evaluated Tuesday.

Warriors forward Draymond Green will miss his third straight game and fourth in the past five with a lingering right shoulder injury. Green is the team leader in rebounding (7.2) and assists (7.3) while also averaging 10.1 points.

"Everybody is dealing with bumps and bruises," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Sunday, according to the San Jose Mercury News. "With Draymond, it's probably a cumulative effect of how hard he plays night after night after night. He's been doing it for a long time. This isn't the worst thing for Steph and Draymond to get some time off."

Golden State starting center Zaza Pachulia practiced Saturday, but he will miss his fourth straight game because of a shoulder injury. Added to the injury list is reserve point guard Shaun Livingston, who will sit out due to a bothersome knee.

The Warriors recalled center Damian Jones from Santa Cruz of the G League shortly before it was determined Pachulia would not play.

Nick Young has been cleared after sustaining a concussion Dec. 11 against the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Warriors are expected to have the reserve shooting guard available.

Despite the injuries, Golden State has won a season-high eight consecutive games, a streak that began with an overtime victory against the Lakers at Staples Center on Nov. 29.

Golden State forward Kevin Durant has picked up the slack for his injured teammates, averaging 33.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the past four games.

The Lakers will retire Kobe Bryant's No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys in a halftime ceremony Monday, and tickets have been high in demand.

As for the game, the Lakers will try to end a four-game, head-to-head losing streak against the Warriors.

Los Angeles stayed with Golden State through all of regulation last month at Staples Center, but Curry got hot in overtime and the Warriors won 127-123.

Lakers second-year forward Brandon Ingram scored a career-high 32 points in that game, and he will be looking for a strong performance in front of Bryant and a Hollywood-heavy crowd.

Ingram has the locker space at Staples Center formerly occupied by Bryant.

"I think about it every day," he told the Los Angeles Times.

Ingram is second on the team in scoring (16.2 points per game) behind rookie forward Kyle Kuzma (16.3).

Kuzma will be making his first career appearance against the Warriors. He missed the last game against Golden State after experiencing back spasms during warmups.

Kuzma closed out the team's four-game road trip with 20 points and seven rebounds in a 121-112 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, the ninth time he scored at least 20 this season.

http://www.nba.com/games/20171218/GSWLAL#/preview

In the kindred spirit of Truefan1947, I will be attending tonight's game. After all, we must be REPRESENTED!

Here are a few articles. Some great stuff:

http://theundefeated.com/features/los-a ... after-nba/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/spor ... .html?_r=0

Are you going to the game?

Lakers4Life wrote:Are you going to the game?

Yes! See post above.

Lakers should focus to beat the Warriors .

Big night tonight! Kobe gave this franchise so much. It would be cool if we could win this game as well. I know Curry is out. Who knows?

Checking in for Black Mamba Monday! That double-jersey is going to be epic, as will be his soon-to-come statue. Soak it all in for us, Ken. Miss Yaminah Ilahi, who I tried to get to join us in here (and who is now Mrs. Yaminah Haywood) is there in attendance as well - she's a HUGE Kobe fan, if not a diehard Laker fan, and her husband (who is a HUGE Warrior fan) is treating her to the game - what a good husband!

Depending on the halftime score, I'm guessing we'll hear chants of "MVP" and "Lace 'em up Kobe!!" from the crowd tonight. And maybe this will give the squad a shot in the arm that carries them through the rest of the season.

lakerevolution wrote:Depending on the halftime score, I'm guessing we'll hear chants of "MVP" and "Lace 'em up Kobe!!" from the crowd tonight. And maybe this will give the squad a shot in the arm that carries them through the rest of the season.

From your lips to the Basketball Gods’ ears, Rev!

What’s the over/under on Jeannie Buss crying during the ceremony?

Kobe’s ceremony was definitely epic. Hopefully his message to this Laker squad about what it takes to reach greatness (hint.. you got to put in the work) hits home.

After 3

Lakers 82
Warriors 83

Shoot, we’d be up big if we haven’t missed so many free throws!!! SMH!!!

No freaking Defense!! Really? Giving up walk in dunks & wide open lay ups???

Refs screwed us on 2 huge missed calls

We can’t buy a basket!