The Los Angeles Lakers are finally headed back home after a quick two-game road trip against Northwest Division opponents, including last night’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But what awaits the Lakers back in Los Angeles is a potential NBA Finals matchup against the NBA’s newest superteam. But as they were asked about their upcoming game, the Lakers did let on that their game on Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets carries extra meaning.
“Honestly, I don’t really care,” Montrezl Harrell said about the Nets game, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “We go into every game with a game plan, know offensively, defensively what we want to do in order to win that game, and that’s going to be the same thing we’re going to have to do when we play on Thursday.
“There’s nothing no different. We’re not circling that game. We’re not putting any extra emphasis on that game. It’s just like any other game — we’re taking it one game at a time. We’re still learning, we’re still growing and we’re still building with one another, and we’re gonna have to do it to a higher standard with losing one of our big pieces [in Davis].”
Harrell is one of the players who the Lakers will need to step up without Anthony Davis and he did so last night with 17 points off the Lakers bench. The Lakers will definitely need more of that as the Nets are on track to have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving back in the lineup.
The Nets are coming off of a thrilling win last night in Phoenix, coming back from a 24-point deficit to steal a win from the Suns behind a couple of big shots from James Harden down the stretch.
