Stay up to day with the latest news, updates, and press conferences from your Los Angeles Lakers.
Lakers forward Luke Walton, who did not play in last night’s game against the Rockets, was today was diagnosed
with a pinched nerve and is expected to miss a minimum of six weeks.
Here’s the release from the Lakers PR staff:
Lakers forward Luke Walton was examined today by back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins and has been diagnosed with a pinched nerve. Walton is expected to be out a minimum of six weeks.
(Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images)
Neither of the Lakers nicked-up big men were on the court with their teammates as the team practiced Saturday afternoon in preparation for their game against the New Orleans Hornets Sunday night.
On Wednesday, Pau Gasol was cleared to resume on-court activities, and had been working out, but sat out today’s workout after feeling some residual pain in his hamstring according to head coach Phil Jackson.
“Last night (he) felt some residual pain and was concerned about it today, so he hasn’t been out on the court with us today,” said Jackson.
Andrew Bynum continued to receive therapy on his sprained right elbow.
As for either of them playing on Sunday, “Doesn’t look good right now but it’ll still be a game time decision,” said Jackson.
Both are officially being listed as doubtful.
After Sunday the Lakers enjoy a rare three day break before returning to action next Thursday against Phoenix. “I can’t see any reason why this should be that extended that it would go on past that time,” offered the head coach.
LA Live is hosting a movie premier at 6pm on Tuesday, 10/27 and the movie theatre at LA Live is having its grand opening later in the evening. Increased traffic and congestion around STAPLES Center is expected from 3-11pm.
For those attending, STAPLES Center doors will open at 5:30pm. Please be in your seat by 7pm as we will be having our ring ceremony and raising of the championship banner to celebrate the 15th NBA Championship in Lakers franchise history.
Please arrive early to allow adequate time to get to STAPLES Center, find parking and enter the arena.
Here’s a brief breakdown of tonight’s matchup against the Denver Nuggets:
We will see a familiar foe tonight in Anaheim and tomorrow night in San Diego. The Denver Nuggets have championship aspirations after taking us to six games in the western conference finals last spring. Their nucleus is back and they have a few new faces to replace Linas Kleiza and Dahntay Jones. This team bought into Coach George Karl’s challenge of playing team defense. We know we need to protect the ball or it will turn into a Nugget Dunk-fest. Chauncey Billups drives the squad and he usually starts games trying to get others involved but if he feels the team struggling to score he can and will kick his offensive game into a more scoring minded approach.
Some teams will slice and dice you with the execution of a number of playsets. While Denver has some plays that we will need to be aware of, they really want to get steals and get out and run. Billups and Anthony will look to probe the defense. There will be a lot of random screen and rolls set in order to free them and create an advantage. It is the secondary offensive thrust that we must be ready to defend. Getting back on defense in order to take away easy dunks is step one and that requires a physical effort. In order to take away their secondary or early offense we will need to communicate because there will be situations where we are not in our normal match-ups.
With two games left in the exhibition season it is time to gear up our intensity and this is a good opponent in order to do that.
Check Lakers Courtside Connection during the regular season for more extensive previews including video breakdowns.
Lakers center Andrew Bynum suffered a minor rotator cuff strain in Tuesday night’s 113-107 win over the Golden State Warriors. Bynum did not practice Wednesday due to the injury but is being listed as probable for Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets in Anaheim.
“My training staff hasn’t anticipated anything that would prohibit him from playing, but we’ll see what it’s like (Thursday),” said head coach Phil Jackson.
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Injured forwards Pau Gasol and Luke Walton both participated in Wednesday’s practice after missing the past couple games.
“I put them through practice today. We’ll see how they react to that tomorrow. They looked okay,” Jackson said.
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The Lakers carry a 5-1 record into the first of back-to-back games against the Denver Nuggets. Tonight’s game is schedule for a 7pm tip from the Honda Center in Anaheim on KCAL/9 and TNT. Tickets available here.
During his pregame meeting with the media Phil Jackson officially ruled forwards Luke Walton and Pau Gasol out of tonight’s contest against the Charlotte Bobcats.
Walton has been battling a slight hamstring strain, while Gasol has been experiencing minor back pain since early in the week.
Forward Lamar Odom will be a game time decision after suffering shin contusion in Thursday’s win over the Sacramento Kings.
FROM LAKERS.com
