BOSTON — The Lakers were without their starting center and opted to use a small-ball first unit for Saturday’s primetime road game against their cross-country rivals, the Boston Celtics.
Jaxson Hayes wasn’t available against the Celtics because of a bruised right knee injury that he suffered late in Thursday’s overtime home win over the New York Knicks.
Hayes hyperextended his knee after being fouled by Karl-Anthony Towns during a layup attempt with one minute left in the extra period.
The 24-year-old big man made both free throws before fouling out 50 seconds later against the Knicks.
“Don’t think it’s anything serious,” Coach JJ Redick said pregame. “We’ve just been monitoring his swelling and his mobility. He’ll be out. And hopefully, he’s back soon.”
Forward Jarred Vanderbilt started in place of Hayes, giving the Lakers a small-ball first unit of Vanderbilt, LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic.
The Lakers remained without starting forward Rui Hachimura, who was sidelined for the fifth consecutive game because of left patellar tendinopathy.
Redick said pregame that Hachimura is “doing well’ after being re-evaluated before Saturday’s game, adding that Hachimura is ramping up his on-court work and is in the team’s return-to-play protocol.
The Lakers are expected to have another update on Hachimura in a week.
The team closes out its four-game road trip, which started on Saturday, against the Denver Nuggets on March 14 at Ball Arena.
BALL SECURITY
After being one of the league’s better teams with taking care of the ball, the Lakers have been one of the worst over the last few weeks.
The Lakers entered Saturday with a turnover percentage – the percentage of plays that end in a player or team’s turnover – of 15.4% (ranked No. 24 among all teams) since Feb. 10, which is when Doncic made his Lakers debut in a home win over the Utah Jazz.
Their 13.8% turnover percentage in their first 50 games ranked No. 9.
Redick stressed the importance of being organized offensively and having the proper spacing ahead of Saturday’s game, leading to a question about how much of the Lakers’ recent giveaways issues are related to working through certain kinks in their offense.
“There’s always more than one factor why you’re turning the ball over,” Redick said. “And some of that is the [Portland Trail] Blazers [game on Feb. 20], not having Luka, they’re a really disruptive defensive team. We had a high turnover game there. Some of it is just, again, figuring out the spacing stuff, knowing where our outlets are, particularly against blitzes.
“When the ball is posted, whether it’s LeBron or with Luka, again, knowing where our outlets are, knowing where our proper spacing is, that’s a big thing. Those guys are gonna have the ball a lot and they’re naturally gonna turn the ball over some. As much as we can limit the rest of the turnovers and those guys can be in the 2-4 range versus the 5-8 range.”