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The Los Angeles Lakers pain train goes on Wednesday night in Cleveland, along with their losing streak and endless injuries. One night after getting mopped around the floor by Kevin and Kevin the Lakers are set to take on Uncle Drew and the Cavaliers.
Jodie Meeks is not available after spraining his ankle Tuesday. Jordan Hill is a game-time decision, suffering a cervical strain after bumping heads with Chris Kaman. This is the Lakers season. Bumping brains and missing games.
The Cavaliers have been woeful this season. The Mike Brown reunion has been incredibly unsuccessful with both on and off court issues plaguing the squad. It makes one wonder why the team was so quick to jump on the former Lakers coach after he was jettisoned a few days into the regular season last year. I digress, though, because the Cavaliers are 1-0 against the Lakers this season. Perhaps the team will do a better job of defending Luol Deng this time around.
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The Lakers are currently on the largest losing streak the franchise has seen since 2007. They're creeping closer to the all-time losing streak record game-by-game. Sure, Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar are back but at a critical time like this does that help or hurt the team? Re-introducing players while the team is shorthanded as is creates more confusion, more disarray and more losses. And Nash is out, by the way, the team monitoring his minutes and keeping him out of back-to-backs for now.
The Lakers have the seventh-worst record in the NBA and could slide down as low as fourth-worst depending on how the Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers game pans out. A Boston win and a Lakers loss would put the team in the bottom-four of the NBA.
Running Blake, Farmar and Marshall after Kyrie Irving could make this a big night for draft pick enthusiasts. It's Feb. 5 and most are already on draft standings watch. When's the last time that's happened for the purple and gold?
