The Los Angeles Lakers started their road trip with a controversial loss against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night. After going toe-to-toe with last season’s Eastern Conference Champions, LeBron James drove to the basket for a game-winning lay-up and was obviously fouled.
Despite Jayson Tatum slapping LeBron on the forearm, the refs kept their whistles silent and the game went to overtime. LeBron reacted as any of us would at 24-Hour Fitness and the Lakers lost in overtime. The league admitted its mistake before the night was finished.
The next stop on the road trip is against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday and it is not going to be the star-filled matchup that it could be. Kevin Durant has been out of action with a knee injury and the Lakers are not playing their two star players, either.
Lakers‘ Anthony Davis and LeBron James are listed out Monday vs. Nets.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 29, 2023
LeBron James and Anthony Davis added to Lakers injury report for obvious reasons.
This is clearly a case of load management by the Los Angeles Lakers but there is an added wrinkle as well. The team isn’t just trying to rest its 38-year-old star and its star big man that just came back from a month-plus absence. Los Angeles is also accomplishing another goal by resting these two.
The biggest storyline around the Lakers right now is LeBron’s pursuit of the all-time scoring record. After Saturday’s loss to Boston, LeBron is 116 points shy of tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record.
With how LeBron is playing, he could easily accomplish that in the next four games. The problem is that the next four games are all on the road and LeBron probably doesn’t want to break the record in New Orleans of all places.
By resting a game (or two), LeBron can push the record-breaking date back to a home showcase in Los Angeles in front of a litany of megastars that will show up. Five games from now the team will be back at home for a two-game stint against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks.
How fitting would it be if LeBron broke the record on an already nationally televised game at home against the man who took the mantle as the best player in the league, Giannis Antetokounmpo? There is also the added wrinkle of this being a matchup between the two teams that Kareem played for in his decorated career.
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Sometimes the stars align in sports and this is another example of that happening. We previously predicted LeBron to break the record on February 9 against the Bucks and if he rests another game on this road trip it could actually happen.