With injuries and losses stacking up like so many old T-shirts, the Lakers' prospects appear bleak at best. Of their 15 games during the month, nine will be against teams with winning records.
And of the six teams with records under .500, five of those games will be played on the road. Kobe Bryant and company will look to catch a little lightning away from home, as they did on their recent 2-1 trip to Atlanta, Houston and Dallas, where they defeated the Hawks and Rockets.
But don’t bet the house on it.
As Byron Scott told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times after the Lakers lost to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night: "It is what it is. Right now we're the worst team in the West."
It's called scraping the barrel.
If it’s possible to imagine, the Lakers today are in worse physical shape than when they took to the road and won two in a row against the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets. Reserve small forward Xavier Henry, who was already dogged by injuries, somehow ruptured his Achilles in practice last Monday and is lost for the season.
Starting forward Carlos Boozer has been nursing a sore shoulder and was kept out of the Denver Nuggets game last Sunday. He returned to the lineup against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Ryan Kelly returned to action after offseason surgery but played in just three games before going down again, this time with an injury to his right hamstring. He’s out of the lineup for another month or so.
The Lakers are apparently ready to bring back forward Earl Clark, per the Los Angeles Daily News. He's a nice player but certainly not the answer.
Head coach Byron Scott has said that he and Bryant have agreed on a way to "limit" Kobe's minutes this season. It...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
