Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott lightened and shortened up his practice on Monday morning, the day after Kobe Bryant admitted the Lakers had heavy legs in their 41-point loss to the Golden State Warriors Sunday night. The Lakers actually had a pretty tough practice earlier on Sunday, before the Lakers headed to Ontario for their third preseason game.
Both Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant sat out of practice on Monday for precautionary reasons, per Byron Scott’s request. However, the OC Register reports that Nash was dealing with a “little sciatica problem.” Scott said Ryan Kelly who’s been out with a moderate hamstring strain was able to practice for the first time today, but because the Lakers did not go full-speed at practice this morning, Scott was unable to determine whether Kelly would be available for the Lakers next game.
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Jordan Clarkson (calf strain) is still day-to-day and it’s doubtful he’ll play Thursday, according to Scott. Jeremy Lin who sprained his ankle a couple days ago was unable to practice and Scott estimated that he’ll be a game-time decision for Thursday’s game against the Utah Jazz.
Nick Young (torn thumb ligament) was shooting left-handed, with a new red cast on his right, when the media walked in to practice this afternoon. Young said depending on when he gets his cast off, he could be back by mid-to-late November.
Scott said a lot of Monday’s practice consisted of working on “spacing, our setups, our timing” on the offensive end. Last night, Kobe Bryant mentioned that the Lakers are still trying to figure out what type of team they are offensively. Scott is hoping that after a couple weeks, Lakers rookie Julius Randle will begin looking more comfortable offensively and defensively:
“I think against Golden State, they can make a lot of people look bad. And, I thought his two games against Golden State, he just looked lost, so he’s got to get to the point where he understands the offense a lot better, he’s not chasing the ball and defensively he’s got to use that size and that quickness and that’s something he hasn’t done yet. So, he’s still learning and he’s got two weeks to kind of catch up on all those things because I want to at least be able to trust him when I put him in the game.”
Expect Ed Davis to get the bulk of the minutes in the post on Thursday. Scott says that him and Robert Sacre (who led the Lakers with 12 points on Sunday) will be reversing roles. Scott said Davis is probably the best rim protector they have, as well as the best “roller and screen setter at that five position.”
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