LeBron Lifts Lakers On His Return, Westbrook Named In All-Star Reserves
1st February 2019
LaMarcus Aldridge's selection as a reserve extends San Antonio's streak of having at least one all-star to 21 consecutive years, the league's longest active run
- Former most valuable player Russell Westbrook and Toronto Raptors star Kyle Lowry head the list of reserves announced on Thursday for the NBA all-star game
- Oklahoma City Thunder guard Westbrook received his eighth all-star selection while Lowry was chosen to his fifth straight game
- LeBron James, who missed 17 games with an injury, will make his return to the struggling Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night against the cross-town rival Los Angeles Clippers
LOS ANGELES, United States- Former most valuable player Russell Westbrook and Toronto Raptors star
Kyle Lowry head the list of reserves announced on Thursday for the NBA all-star
game.
Oklahoma City
Thunder guard Westbrook received his eighth all-star selection while Lowry was
chosen to his fifth straight game.
Westbrook was the
MVP of the 2015 and 2016 all-star games.
The other reserves
named Thursday include four first-time all-stars comprising Philadelphia 76ers
guard Ben Simmons, Orlando Magic centre Nikola Vucevic, Denver Nuggets centre
Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton.
The seven reserves
from both the East and West Conferences will join the 10 starters who were
announced last week.
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There is no East
versus West format for this year's game. The players' names will now go into a
hat and will be selected by captains LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The defending NBA
champion Golden State Warriors will have three all-stars, with reserve Klay
Thompson joining starters Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
LaMarcus Aldridge's
selection as a reserve extends San Antonio's streak of having at least one
all-star to 21 consecutive years, the league's longest active run.
One all-star missing
is Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo, who underwent surgery earlier this week
to repair a torn right quadriceps tendon.
The all-star game
will be played February 17 in Charlotte, N.C.
READ ALSO:Curry Stars As Warriors Beat Pacers For 11th StraightVictory
LeBron James made a
triumphant return to the court on Thursday, breathing new life into the
floundering Los Angeles Lakers with a 123-120 overtime victory over the Los
Angeles Clippers.
James, who missed 17
games due to a groin injury, scored a team-high 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds
and delivered nine assists in his first NBA game since Christmas Day.
Showing no sign of
the injury that resulted in the longest absence of his 16-year career, James
played 40 minutes and scored the go-ahead basket with 1:15 left in overtime
after the Lakers blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter.
James called the
36-day absence some of the darkest days of his career.
"I worked my ass off to get back to this point," James said. "It was the toughest stretch of my career not being out on the floor."
Defending champions
James said he is at
"80 percent" fitness and will see how he feels in the morning when he
wakes up. He played more than he expected with the game going into overtime.
"I am at 80
percent right now. But I was good enough to feel confident to just keep pushing
throughout the game," he said.
"I want to see
how my body reacts tomorrow. That's the tell-tale sign for me is how my body
feels after having to play 40 minutes unfortunately with the overtime."
Lance Stephenson
added 20 points, Brandon Ingram added 19 points, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points
and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who were officially the visiting team but had
strong crowd support Thursday because they share the Staples Center arena with
their city rivals.
"We got stops
and we made some timely shots," said James. "Everybody was huge. It
is going to be different guys every night for our team. We are starting to get
out depth back."
Lou Williams scored
a team-high 24 points and Patrick Beverley added 17 for the Clippers, who shot
just 53 percent from the free-throw line.
James' return
couldn't come soon enough for the Lakers, who have gone into a tailspin without
him.
The Lakers won just
11 of 17 games since James suffered a strained groin in a game against the
defending champion Golden State Warriors. The losing skid dropped them to the
ninth seed from the fourth seed.
James said he
trained just as hard when he was sidelined as he does in a normal season.
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