Getty Lakers cente JaVale McGee.
The Los Angeles Lakers were shorthanded in a loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday, with both LeBron James and Alex Caruso sitting with injuries. However, the Lakers were also without veteran big man JaVale McGee, who drew a surprising inactive tag due to a coaches’ decision.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel was short when discussing the absence of McGee, who had started all 65 games he played in this season.
“It was just a coaches’ decision,” Vogel said. “I wanted to see what a small lineup looked like to start with, with Kuz in there. And that means that sometimes it’s going to be difficult to play both centers. It doesn’t mean we’re necessarily going to go with that if we play (the Rockets) in the playoffs, but it was just something I wanted to look at. It was just a coach’s decision.”
Frank Vogel on benching JaVale McGee: “It was just a coach’s decision.” Says he was experimenting playing against small ball.
With the Lakers having already locked up the top seed in the Western Conference, there’s a variety of reasons why McGee could have been inactive against Houston. But it seems strange that he didn’t get some run in, considering Dwight Howard played 20 minutes — his new bubble-high. It will remain to be seen if McGee, who has averaged four points and 3.6 rebounds per game in the bubble, continues to start or if the Lakers decide to go in another direction.
LeBron James Hints at Problems Off the Floor
GettyLakers star LeBron James.
Top seed or not, the Lakers have not been good in the bubble. They’ve lost three of five games and have looked inconsistent on the offensive end of the floor, failing to eclipse 100 points in three of those losses.
James might be on cruise control as he eyes yet another deep playoff run, but he got cryptic when asked about the team’s struggles.
“It’s just some things that you can’t control that’s here, that I really don’t want to talk about, that’s off the floor,” said James, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Kyle Kuzma Says Lakers Have to Keep Working
The Lakers have three games left before the games start to count. They’ll take on the Pacers on Saturday, followed by matchups with the Kings and Nuggets.
Kyle Kuzma has played well in the bubble and provided a highlight reel block on James Harden in the loss. He also supplied a team-high 21 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He also supplied just one of the Lakers two 3-pointers, as they shot a season-worst 2-of-19 from beyond the arc. If the Lakers want to get to their end goal of a championship, Kuzma thinks they just need to lock in and avoid the outside noise.
“You can’t read the press clippings, you can’t read the things that are on Twitter,” Kuzma told reporters after the loss. “Obviously it is a situation for us where we’re not shooting the ball well, but we also know we have proven commodities at that (skill).”
Vogel echoed what Kuzma had to say about the shooting woes.
“There’s always a reversion to the mean. The law of averages always plays out,” Vogel said. “I’m just glad we’re getting these misses out of the way now.”