LOS ANGELES — To the rest of the world, LeBron James was listed as questionable for Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Rockets, then a game-time decision.
But James provided his own scoop, tweeting on Monday: “Man can’t wait to hoop again tomorrow night”.
It’s unclear what machinations led the 36-year-old to call his own starting slot on Tuesday, but clearly he was feeling well enough to play the second of two games against Houston on a right ankle that’s been sore since he sprained it in the third game of the season. Even as he told reporters that James was not yet confirmed to start 90 minutes before tip-off, Coach Frank Vogel smiled when James’ tweet was brought up – perhaps a knowing grin.
“They tell me he’s questionable, he’s a game-time decision,” Vogel said. “I’m expecting him to play unless I’m told otherwise.”
With James in the lineup, the Lakers stuck to a small-look group with Anthony Davis at center and Avery Bradley starting as an extra perimeter player. For the second straight game, Dwight Howard (neck stiffness) missed the game, pushing DeAndre Jordan into the backup center role.
While Sunday’s 95-85 victory was far from flawless, the defense from the smaller lineups was particularly potent, helping force 27 turnovers and mucking up Houston’s attack. Vogel said one of the reasons the Lakers went with the smaller look was to take advantage of Houston’s own lack of a dominant post scorer or offensive rebounder – but the Lakers won’t necessarily stick with it.
“It is one of those things that I’ll say this is just something that we’re looking at right now,” he said. “But we do intend to start big again soon.”
Through the first seven games of the season, the Lakers posted a plus-1.3 net rating when Davis plays at center, and a minus-0.4 in the minutes he plays at power forward, according to stat site Cleaning the Glass – not a tremendous gap. The team’s vision of rotating Trevor Ariza and Talen Horton-Tucker at forward and wing spots, which the Lakers viewed as integral to their smaller groups, has been hampered by injuries requiring surgery to both players.
If the Lakers flip to more small units, it could be hard finding minutes for both Jordan and Howard: At the moment, they’re averaging a combined 29 minutes per game. But Vogel said discussions about the centers’ roles haven’t been difficult because the veteran team is focused on the bigger picture.
“(Howard and Jordan) know that we have been at our best over the last couple of years of being a hybrid unit, where sometimes A.D. plays the five, sometimes he’s at the four,” he said. “They both knew that when they signed here. The whole mindset of our whole group is we’re trying to win a championship this year and whatever sacrifice is required, everybody is all in.”
Davis, however, argued on Sunday that the bigger lineups have their merit as well.
“I think you can get me on the perimeter, another lob threat with DJ and Dwight,” he said. “We can be great defensively, with the rim protection and letting our guards come back and get the rebounds and push on Russ (Westbrook), and whoever the other big is. So there’s some good components of us playing big, but there’s some good components of us playing small when I’m at the five. So just take it game-by-game.”