Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
The Golden State Warriors will be participating in the celebration of this American icon with a nationally televised showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The last time the two teams met was over the Christmas holiday when the Lakers ran into Oracle Arena and threw coal into Dub Nation’s stockings with a 127-101 trouncing. LeBron James injured his groin that game and hasn’t played since. Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo have joined him on the injured list and all three of L.A’s vital playmakers will be unavailable for this contest.
On the flip side, the Warriors roster health is near full strength with the return of superstar center DeMarcus Cousins from his Achilles injury. This will be his second game back, and he’ll be looking to build on his encouraging performance against the other Los Angeles squad, the Clippers.
His presence should throw a wrench in the strategy the Lakers successfully employed on the champs on Christmas where they smothered Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson and dared anyone else to make a play.
Dave McMenamin reported this intel for ESPN:
What they were doing was a game plan aided by Lakers assistant Jesse Mermuys, who was responsible for scouting the Warriors all season. He suggested a radical scheme: just concentrate on blanketing Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and leave pretty much anyone else -- including All-Star Draymond Green -- open.
”I just remember Jesse being really excited at about 8 o’clock in the morning,” Rajon Rondo told ESPN. “He told me he thought he had figured out a great game plan, and seven or eight hours later it turned into the truth.”
The Warriors ended up shooting 40.9 percent. Green shot 2-for-7 and Alfonzo McKinnie shot 2-for-10 as the Lakers’ defense purposely sagged off of them like a pair of early ‘90s jeans.
We’ll see how it goes this time. Let’s go Dubs!