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This is how it will be, the Lakers in a fight every game and those fights have physical and emotional costs.
On Tuesday against Dallas, Luka Doncic faced his former team for an emotionally tiring 48 minutes when the Lakers could not exhale the finish.
On Thursday they organized the Minnesota Timberwolves and worked their way through a night when they missed shots on the edge, shots of deep and shots of the free thrust line before they prepared their way to win.
And on Friday, in short peace and shorten, they played the clippers, a team whose success was built on the back of the same high-engine, tough basketball that the Lakers used to push near the top of the West.
But against their former Crypto.com Arena roommates, the Lakers entered the fight without Rui Hachimura, who suffered a knee against Minnesota. And they left it without Austin Reaves, which they lost after just one service.
Doncic and LeBron James should be great – and they would need help. Without Reaves and Hachimura it was Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt fighting Kawhi Leonard for real estate, Dorian Finney-Smith trying to stay for James Harden. They were two -way players Trey Jemison III and Jordan Goodwin won their minutes due to toughness and grit.
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Nothing was easy, but for the fifth consecutive time and third in a row at home, the Lakers found enough and won 106-102.
Doncic scored 31 and James had 28 points, but it was the Lakers’ bench who wore them in the small things, Vanderbilt, Jemison, Vincent and Goodwin ended up at least plus-11 during their minutes.
Reaves, in the middle of his best season as a professional, left Friday’s game with the Lakers because of a calf injury. He is expected to undergo an MRI scan on Saturday to determine the severity.
Reaves played nine minutes in the first quarter before checking out and went back to the dressing room of the Lakers.
Reaves started 52 games for the Lakers this season, on average 19.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists.
Kalflashes are notorious in the NBA, where Doncic is missing time with a recurring calf problem. He missed about seven weeks after a veal stem on Christmas while he was a member of the Dallas Mavericks.
Reaves missed five games earlier this season after a pelvic injury. He played the last season in every game for the Lakers.
Vincent replaced Reaves in the line -up to start the second half.
The clippers, who led by no less than 10, forced a few turnover in the last minute to give them a chance, but the open three-point attempt by Bogdan Bogdanovic to lower the score to one rattle, the Lakers seize the rebound and the victory.
They are now in a three -way draw with 21 losses for second place in the west.
The Lakers and the Clippers meet again for the last time in the regular season on Sunday in Crypto.com Arena.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
