Tag: Rajon Rondo

Kyle Kuzma hits huge shots to help Lakers rally past Suns

LeBron James and Anthony Davis both had double-doubles as they held off the Phoenix Suns for a win on Tuesday night.

Anthony Davis had 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists,  LeBron James had 19 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, while Kyle Kuzma had 23 points off the bench as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 123-115 on Tuesday night.

The Suns had three players score 20 points or more (Aron Baynes, Ricky Rubio, Devin Booker) but that wasn’t enough as Kuzma and Green hit big shots from the outside to support their stars.

Davis didn’t appear to be bothered too much by the shoulder issue as he totaled 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in the first half while the Lakers nursed a 60-58 lead at halftime.

Even though Rondo was back in the lineup, LeBron James didn’t look like he would slow down his role as distributor with nine assists to go with eight points in the first half. Rondo played 14 minutes and finished with five points, seven assists and six rebounds in his debut.

The Suns stayed in the game in large part thanks to the 3-point shot, scoring 58 points on what had been the best defense in the league. They shot 8-16 from the 3-point line in the first half with their role players mostly doing the job as Aron Baynes, Ricky Rubio and Frank Kaminsky each hit multiple 3-pointers in the first half. However, they cooled off considerably in the second half.

Kuzma provided a big spark for the Lakers off the bench, having his first breakout game of the season in Phoenix. He had 13 first half points including a personal 6-0 run to close the first quarter to cut the Suns lead from nine to just three in 57.2 seconds of game time. He also closed out the game two two big 3-pointers in the final minutes.

A huge 3-pointer by Kuzma with 2:10 left pushed the Lakers lead to 117-113, giving the Lakers the opportunity to play from ahead in the last two minutes. And then Kuzma hit another with 1:40 left to put the Lakers up by seven points.

The Lakers head back to L.A. as they will face a short-handed Golden State Warriors crew on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

Rajon Rondo gets upgraded to probable for debut Tuesday at Suns

After missing the first nine games of the season, Rajon Rondo will make his season debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

After having LeBron James due basically all of the heavy lifting at the point guard spot for the first three weeks of the season, he will have considerably more help when he’s out of the game on Tuesday night as the Los Angeles Lakers are now officially expecting 14-year veteran guard Rajon Rondo to play against the Phoenix Suns.

Bill Oram of The Athletic reported the latest update from the Lakers that Rondo had been upgraded from questionable to probable following the team’s shoot around on Tuesday morning. The hope for the Lakers is that adding Rondo will alleviate some of the playmaking burden for LeBron, even though he’s done quite well with by leading the NBA in assists through the first nine games.

Rondo also has a strong connection with Anthony Davis dating back to their lone season together in New Orleans.

Davis has gone on the record multiple times saying how much he loves playing with Rondo and values his perspective. And unlike his first season with LeBron, the Pelicans did quite well with Rondo and Davis sharing the court in 2017-18, outscoring their opponents by 4.1 points per 100 possessions on their way to a first round sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Adding another playmaker to the mix, even though LeBron leads the NBA in assists, will be good for the Lakers long-term, especially if Rondo’s New Orleans success with Davis is replicated in L.A.

In addition to the update on Rondo, Troy Daniels is still questionable to play against his former team but the good news is that his MRI didn’t reveal anything concerning long-term.

[lawrence-related id=21608,21574]

Lakers news: Vogel ‘hopeful’ Rondo makes season debut Tuesday at Suns

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said he’s hopeful they will get Rajon Rondo back when they visit the Phoenix Suns.

The saga of Rajon Rondo’s return from a calf injury has taken another interesting turn on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Rondo himself alluded to the similarities between his injury and the one that led to Kevin Durant’s torn Achilles in the NBA Finals earlier this year.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel told reporters gathered at the team’s shoot around on Tuesday morning that he was “hopeful” Rondo will make his season debut against the Phoenix Suns later this evening. Rondo has missed the first nine games of the regular season and hasn’t played in a game since the Lakers left China in mid-October.

From Dave McMenamin of ESPN

Vogel’s hopes aside, Rondo is still considered questionable for the game but if he is back that could help the Lakers and LeBron James. Rondo could also potentially give James a break when it comes to running the show alongside Anthony Davis.

Davis has gone on the record multiple times saying how much he loves playing with Rondo and values his perspective. And unlike his first season with LeBron, the Pelicans did quite well with Rondo and Davis sharing the court in 2017-18, outscoring their opponents by 4.1 points per 100 possessions on their way to a first round sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Adding another playmaker to the mix, even though LeBron leads the NBA in assists, will be good for the Lakers long-term, especially if Rondo’s New Orleans success with Davis is replicated in L.A.

Rajon Rondo says Lakers told him calf issue similar to Durant’s from Finals

Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo told reporters he was eager to return before learning of similarities to his injury and Kevin Durant.

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have to try hard to prevent Rajon Rondo from rushing his return from a sore calf that has bothered him since the second week of the preseason. All they had to do was tell him the most recent example of someone with a similar injury returning too soon: Brooklyn Nets forward and former Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant.

Rondo, who was expected to play on Sunday but was scratched following a workout on Saturday, told reporters at Monday’s Lakers practice that the team’s medical staff let him know the similarities between his current condition and the one that eventually led to Durant’s torn Achilles during the NBA Finals in June.

While Rondo’s return seemed imminent as recently as this weekend, it’s clear that both he and the Lakers training staff are taking a most cautious approach with the veteran point guard in his 14th season.

Frank Vogel says injured Rajon Rondo will return ‘hopefully soon’

Rajon Rondo’s return from a calf injury has been a slow and deliberate one, with no clear end in sight.

All things considered, the Los Angeles Lakers are having a great start to the season. When they hit the three-week mark on Tuesday, they will still be 7-2 heading into a game against the Phoenix Suns. But if you were hoping for them to get Rajon Rondo back in the lineup soon, his two-steps-forward-one-step-back recovery from a sore calf, has complicated it.

After being close to playing on Sunday, Rondo’s return was immediately called off after a 5-on-5 workout, according to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes. And the outlook for Rondo doesn’t look any clearer after Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors. Coach Frank Vogel told reporters that it would be “hopefully soon” when Rondo returns but acknowledged that the soft tissue injury has been tricky to deal with.

According to Harrison Faigen for Silver Screen and Roll, Vogel said before the game on Sunday:

It’s tough to say. With a soft tissue injury, you never know how quickly those things are going to heal. You want to have the mindset where you can ramp up activity and get through it with no pain and no soreness. And if that doesn’t happen then it can be delayed. So it’s not that unusual in my mind.

Vogel doesn’t seem too concerned by the injury given its nature as a difficult injury to recover from, let alone for a veteran like Rondo. The Lakers are taking it slow, but their patience doesn’t make Rondo’s slow recovery any less concerning.