EL SEGUNDO — Whiplash. Reality check. Clean slate?
The Lakers never expected the playoffs to be so different. They couldn’t have anticipated the combination of gut-check blows the led to what forward Jarred Vanderbilt calls a “new-look team.”
Austin Reaves has remained in the Lakers’ South Bay facility alongside his teammates, strolling along the court during the final minutes of post-practice drills, collecting rebounds for teammates or shooting free throws, cracking jokes and lifting the mood as they prepare for Saturday’s first-round series opener against the Houston Rockets at 5:30 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena.
But Reaves can’t suit up for Game 1, still recovering from a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury. And neither can Luka Doncic, who returned to Los Angeles on Friday after, according to multiple reports, receiving treatment in Europe in hopes of expediting recovery from his Grade 2 left hamstring strain. The likelihood of either player returning during the first round remains slim under their respective “indefinitely out” statuses.
“The mindset for our team and for those two guys, like we’re gonna try to make this season as long as possible so that we can get those guys back at some point,” Redick said. “We don’t know what that is, and that’s just our job. And their job is to do everything they can to be in a position to come back at some point. It may not work, but that’s what we’re trying to do.”
And so, the weeks-long drawing board of game planning – since April 4, preparing for life without Doncic and Reaves – will now be tested under the bright lights of the playoffs. Lakers coach JJ Redick has shared rallying cries of phrases – “all hands on deck” and “all options are on the table” to name a pair – about his team during this week’s practices. Under the burden of weakened depth, Redick identified a word that best described what the Lakers need to do to serve the Rockets their best shot.
“The word we’ve used all week is ‘elevate,’” Redick said. “I think that’s what it is. We all know the playoffs are different. They’re harder. There’s no easy matchups, and you have to be able to elevate your play.”
Franchise-wide, Redick said, the goal is to “elevate.” Not just on the court he said, such as the reiteration of Houston’s rebounding prowess, of which LeBron James impassionedly spoke of on Thursday. But with attention to detail, commitment to recovery – knowing the task at hand skyrockets in difficulty without star players at the ready.
“Particularly when you’re missing two of your top guys, part of elevating is elevating each other and the belief that the group as a whole can be great,” Redick said.
Before the regular season ended, Redick called out rival Western Conference teams who he believed were itching to play the depleted Lakers in the playoffs. He agreed earlier this week that there is a freedom that comes with being the pariah of the playoff field, clearly at a weakened status compared to other contenders in the West. Luke Kennard, who last month was competing for additional bench minutes as a sharp-shooting specialist, recognized the proverbial freedom as well.
Now the team’s primary ball handler, Kennard on Thursday said that despite sharing the same belief he doesn’t feel the pressure going into the intense postseason environment. The belief remains, Kennard said, but the reality of the Lakers’ preferred roster composition collapsed when Doncic grabbed his left hamstring and hobbled off the court during the third quarter of their April 2 loss in Oklahoma City.
“Being maybe somewhat of an underdog with guys out,” Kennard said, “it kind of gives us this sense of freedom and to go out there and just play hard.”
Imagining James as an underdog flashes back to his early seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, or when he attempted to build from the ground up alongside a young, rag-tag Lakers core when he first arrived in L.A. in 2018.
As for James’ status, Redick said Friday that the 41-year-old’s health was improved compared to Thursday, when his voice was hoarse and he admitted to being under the weather. James said nothing changes in his preparation from the regular season to the postseason, even when a looming battle against Rockets star Kevin Durant might reopen old playoff scars on Saturday night.
“He’s the head of the snake,” James said Thursday of Durant, who he lost to twice in the NBA Finals in 2017 and 2018. “But it’s the Houston Rockets, and they have some damned good players on that team. So, it’s not just a KD team. It’s a whole group.”
The Rockets have turned a corner since the Lakers defeated them twice in three days in Texas in mid-March. Houston coach Ime Udoka rallied the likes of Durant, Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson and others together for an eight-game winning streak just before the regular season ended.
These are not the Rockets who the Lakers took down with Doncic leading the way in scoring the last two times they met. And these are not the same Lakers, an entirely fresh formula of creativity shaping the “new-look” squad heading into Saturday’s series opener.
“Pressure busts pipes or makes diamonds, right?” veteran guard Marcus Smart said earlier this week. “And we know we went through that pressure and we’re ready to come out and define ourselves.”
LAKERS VS. ROCKETS SCHEDULE
All times are PT
Game 1 – at Lakers, Saturday, 5:30 p.m., ABC (Ch. 7)
Game 2 – at Lakers, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., NBC (Ch. 4)
Game 3 – at Rockets, Fri., April 24, 5 p.m., Prime
Game 4 – at Rockets, Sun., April 26, 6:30 p.m., NBC (Ch. 4)
x-Game 5 – at Lakers, Wed., April 29, TBA
x-Game 6 – at Rockets, Fri., May 1, TBA
x-Game 7 – at Lakers, Sun., May 3, TBA
x – If necessary