With Anthony Davis out of the Sunday game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with calf injury, it was up to Kyle Kuzma and Marc Gasol to step up and help LeBron James deliver a “W”. And the Lakers did not disappoint, winning the game soundly with a final score of 127 to 91.
The Los Angeles Lakers took control very early into the game, closing the 1st quarter with a 17-point lead. Then maintaining and simply adding extra points until the horn blew end of game with a resounding 36 points lead for the Lakers. While A.D. remains listed as day-to-day on the injury reports, Lakers showed a deep bench, with Kuzma stepping up big time in the game against the Timberwolves, scoring 20 points for the night. Marc Gasol also did not disappoint, posting 7 rebounds, 8 assists and adding 12 points to the total tally.
Dennis Schroder, who is working towards a new contract, put in 25 minutes on Sunday, scoring 11 points and adding four assists and rebounds. Horton-Tucker and Harrell also had a great game, both helping the Lakers with 12 points each.
When it was announced that AD will sit out the Sunday game, many people wondered how would LeBron James manage the situation and if he could bring in enough to the table. What we saw against Minnesota was vintage LeBron, taking control of the court, yet working with the bench, and the final score of the game is an excellent indicator of the situation we witnessed last night.
Scoring 18 points, with 9 rebounds and 5 assists, James, however, managed to make all Lakers’ fans hearths miss a beat during the second half of the game, when he appeared to roll his left ankle, yet again. This was the same ankle he rolled during the season opener against the Clippers, and while he was back on the court on Sunday, he remains listed as day-to-day on the Lakers injury report. One can only hope that LeBron did not re-aggravate the same injury. Despite the excellent performance exhibited by Kuzma and Gasol, with the Trailblazers coming to L.A. on Monday, we would love to see both LeBron and Davis back on the court together.
