Wednesday, May 12, 2021, 7:30 PM PDT
Staples Center • Los Angeles, CA
Referees: John Goble (#30), Curtis Blair (#74), Eric Dalen (#37)
Replay Center: Gediminas Petraitis, Evan Scott
Line: Lakers -14
O/U: 222.5
National TV: NBA League Pass only
Local TV: Spectrum SportsNet
GAME PREVIEW: ROCKETS AT LAKERS: The Return of The King
by Harrison Faigen, @hmfaigen, silverscreenandroll.com
LeBron James was originally heavily rumored to return when the Lakers hosted the New York Knicks on Tuesday, but word leaked out a few hours before the game that he would instead target their final home game of the regular season for his re-debut: Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets, when Los Angeles will unveil its 2020 championship banner in front of fans at Staples Center.
I would say that the Rockets offer James a good to re-adjust to NBA basketball, but they’re not really an NBA team, so that’s not entirely accurate. Houston has a problem, and it’s that they suck. The Rockets have lost 16 of their last 18 games heading into their final game of the season in Los Angeles, which actually qualifies as improvement for a team that at one point lost 20 games in a row this season, have posted the fourth-worst offensive and defensive efficiency marks in the NBA, and have the worst worst record in the entire league (16-53).
As the Lakers saw when they lost to the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors in James’ first two games back before returning to the sidelines with continuing ankle soreness, nothing is guaranteed when a team is reintroducing such a big piece back into their lineup. Still, the Rockets are so terrible that any growing pains likely shouldn’t matter, even if the Lakers will be on the second night of a back-to-back.
In short, the Rockets offer the Lakers an opportunity to help re-acclimate their star and end their home slate on a high note. We’ll see if they seize the opportunity to do both when these two teams tip off at 7:30 p.m. PT at Staples Center on Wednesday.
Notes and Updates
- The Lakers have yet to put out their injury report for Wednesday’s game, but Anthony Davis was experiencing some groin tightness in Tuesday's game and may be in doubt for this one.
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/202 ... mes-return