Early-season upsets of the Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls, among several others, have hinted at a bright future for the baby Lakers, but recently the team has hit its first real significant impasse of the season. The Lakers have lost their last three games and six of their last eight to fall to 10-13 on the year, with injuries one of the major culprits of this slowdown.
D'Angelo Russell, Nick Young, Larry Nance Jr. and Jose Calderon have all missed significant time of late. Their recoveries are ongoing, but the Lakers still won't be nearly at full strength when they play the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
According to the Lakers' official twitter account, Russell is ready to get back to on-court work but won't be traveling to play the Rockets.
Reserve center/forward Tarik Black also won't be making the trip, per the team's Twitter account, due to an ankle sprain suffered in Monday's 107-101 loss to the Utah Jazz. Second-year forward Nance was back in practice on Tuesday, according to the team:
Any injury to the Lakers is capable of drastically shaking up Walton's rotation, which routinely gives nine or 10 Lakers around 20 minutes of playing time a night. Black might be an afterthought on many other rosters, but he's played at least 20 minutes in three of his last six games and boasts averages of 13.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per 36 minutes, per Basketball-Reference.com.
His productivity and rebounding ability will be sorely missed against the Rockets, who like to chuck three-pointers at an astronomical rate. Someone has to be there to grab the ones that clank off the rim, and Black's absence puts more pressure on the...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
