The basketball world still doesn't know when Los Angeles Lakers stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves will be healthy enough to return to action. The Lakers and Houston Rockets themselves don't know, either, and it'll be interesting to see if this unknown variable becomes a distraction in the first-round series, particularly for the Rockets as they game plan.
But the Lakers don't seem to be confused or distracted about the statuses of Doncic and Reaves; this isn't necessarily because LA has intel that everyone else lacks. More so, the Lakers have arrived at a clear stance on Luka and AR: Those guys aren't expected to come back for round one, so they'll have to make do without them. And if Doncic and/or Reaves do manage to return by the end of the series, the Lakers will cross that bridge when they get to it.
ESPN's Dave McMenamin relayed this mindset of LA's on Thursday. The Lakers "have no expectation of having either Doncic or Reaves back at any point in the first round," McMenamin wrote. "But they also have not completely ruled out the possibility of one or both of them becoming available the longer the series lasts."
Lakers stance on Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves is a wise one
The Lakers are smart to take the above stance. To assume that Doncic and/or Reaves will make an appearance in the series would be to set themselves up for reinforcements that may never arrive. By forging ahead with the full knowledge and belief that they can win this series without their star duo, the Lakers place themselves in the best psychological position, given the adverse circumstances.
After all, the Lakers were fortunate to draw the Houston Rockets in the first round because Houston is probably the one team (out of LA's other possible first-round opponents) that LA can beat without Luka and Reaves. If LeBron James is healthy, almost anything is possible in this matchup.
The Lakers can beat the Rockets with LeBron James and role players
The Rockets, meanwhile, have to prepare in the back of their minds for two separate teams in this series. They're dealing with the LeBron-centric Lakers right now, but they can't say for sure whether LA will be back to full strength by the end of the series, which would present an entirely different animal to plan against.
This could lead to Houston putting pressure on itself to end the series as soon as possible. But you can bet the Lakers will be doing plenty of work to prevent that from happening.
Add us as a preferred source on Google