Los Angeles — Star of the Lakers lebron james In Wednesday’s 114-101 loss to the LA Clippers midway through the fourth quarter, he said he did not return with a groin injury.
Team doctors will evaluate James on Thursday and administer medical imaging to his groin to determine the extent of his injuries.
James limped and grabbed his groin with 5:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. The team said he was dealing with pain in his left leg.
When he appeared to be tweaking something while posting the Clippers’ comments, James said of the sequence, “I didn’t do anything extraneous on the play.” Paul George“The moment I landed, I felt a little cramp or tightness in my groin, so when I went to the free-throw line on the next playdown, I had to get out quickly.”
James, 37, suffered a laceration to his left groin during the 2018-19 season, missing 17 straight games from late December to late January in his first season in LA.
James said the current discomfort is “not too bad” compared to what he experienced four years ago.
James has not ruled out the possibility of playing in LA’s next game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
“I’ll go around [the clock] 24-hour treatment and if it’s OK on Friday, I’ll be in the lineup.”
James’ strong performance, scoring 30-of-22 on 12 shooting, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in 32 minutes, was marred by injury.
Lakers coach Durbin Hamm said his message to James after the game was to “do what you gotta do, just take care of yourself.” But losing four games in a row makes him a big challenge for a 2-9 team to lose team leader James in time, points and assists.
“I mean, there’s a lot of adversity,” Hamm said. “[James] He has been there for us and put his heart and soul into it just to play at a high level. I thought he was doing really well tonight. But that means it’s an NBA season. You have to be ready for a little bit of everything. You’ll know as soon as he’s evaluated and you’ll be ready to move forward.”
Hamm said he didn’t want anyone at the Lakers to feel the need to be a “hero” if James didn’t play. Anthony Davis He said he would feel obliged to take on more.
“For me, the mindset has changed to just go out and be aggressive and try to find a way to help the team win,” said Davis, who scored 21 points. Whether it’s hitting or knowing that it’s my job to make them better.” 9 rebounds against the Clippers. “It’s my job anyway. But when a guy like LeBron does everything he can on the floor, it’s even more.”
James appeared relatively calm about his injury, saying he was “calm no matter what happens”, but there was a series of questions that irritated him during the post-game press conference: free throws.
He went 2-for-4 from the line on Wednesday and attempted his fifth free throw of the season in four or fewer.
“I want you to blow your whistle when you get hit,” James said. “Tonight I saw a lot of guys shooting a lot of jumps, hitting the free throw line nine times, 13 times.
“I had to learn to flop or something. You have to, because “I missed it.” [he hears as an explanation from the referees] Too repetitive. It’s been three games in a row since I missed it.”
