The Los Angeles Lakers felt all of it and then some in last nightâs loss to the lottery-destined Dallas Mavericks.Â
After what felt like riding the mountaintop for the organization in March, the Lakersâ world came crashing down in recent days, starting with a brutal road defeat to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.Â
In the loss, L.A.âs two best players and scorers, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, incurred complex injuries that often require lengthy recoveries.Â
Doncic sustained a Grade 2 hamstring strain while Reaves was tagged with a Grade 2 oblique strain. Both players are expected to miss the rest of the regular season and a chunk of games beyond that.
Without its star backcourt in the lineup last night, Los Angeles got down early and couldnât quite flip the script. LeBron James, the 41-year-old who now back shouldering an immense load, gave it his all, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record a 30-point, 15-assist game.Â
GettyCooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks makes a move past LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
It wasnât nearly enough.Â
Mavericks star Cooper Flagg picked up where he left off in Friday nightâs game against the Orlando Magic, where he scored 51 points, becoming the first teenager in league history to record a 50-point outing.Â
Dallas wasnât supposed to be a test; L.A. wasnât supposed to lose this game even without Doncic and Reaves. They did anyway. It goes to show the uphill climb the Lakers have and how desperate they are without Doncic running the show and Reaves complementing him.
Los Angeles Lakers get a very encouraging signÂ
Despite Sundayâs loss, Los Angeles is still holding on to the third seed â but barely.Â
The Denver Nuggets, whom the Lakers own the tie-breaker over, are applying pressure on the third seed and could capture it within the coming days. Simply put, Denverâs degree of difficulty has become much lower than L.A.âs amid injuries to Doncic and Reaves.Â
Los Angeles knows it has to get through a few more regular season games and perhaps even the entire first round of the playoffs before it can even begin to think about getting its two stars back, but maybe the best-case scenario happens â or better.Â
According to ESPNâs Dave McMenamin and Shams Charania, Doncic is seeking specialized treatment in Europe as he hopes to accelerate his recovery. Reaves is reportedly trying to work his way back sooner as well.Â
In what would effectively be a miracle, can L.A. get both players back a lot earlier than expected? There appears to be an outside chance.Â
âThough Grade 2 hamstring strains typically involve a monthlong recovery process, [Doncicâs agent, Bill] Duffy said Doncic is motivated to return to the Lakers’ lineup during the playoffs â which is a shared goal for Austin Reaves, who is out because of a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury,â McMenamin and Charania wrote.
The team is being held together by masking tape
In March, the Lakers were scaling a new summit.Â
They won 15 of 17 games, Doncic rocketed his way up the Kia NBA MVP ladder, Reaves had become the ideal No. 2 to Doncic, and James had become the league most devastating third-option.Â
That formula generated magic for L.A. Thoughts about hanging another banner intensified among Laker nation. That was until things snapped back to a harsh reality.Â
Doncic and Reaves are dealing with tricky soft-tissue injuries. While quite common, these ailments are particularly testy to deal with because of the notorious re-injury factor. Even when it seems like the injury has fully heeled, it is rather easy to aggravate the area once returning to game-speed activity.Â
If Doncic and Reaves miraculously do come back in the playoffs, it would already be uncharted territory.Â
Asking them to jump right into the intensity of the postseason after dealing with nagging injuries is perhaps borderline insanity.Â
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