On Tuesday, a day after the Los Angeles Lakers overwhelmed the Portland Trail Blazers and took a commanding 3-1 series lead, both teams received injury news that could seal the fate to what may have already been the expected outcome for the series.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Damian Lillard will miss Game 5 due to a right knee sprain that he suffered on Monday night. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis, who also suffered an injury in Game 4, has said he plans to play on Wednesday.
Although nothing is certain when it comes to sports, the Lakers seem to be that much closer to advancing to the next round, which brings us to today’s episode.
Our hosts Alex Padilla and Alex Regla spend the majority of this week’s episode of “Talk-O Tuesday” discussing how Lillard’s absence could affect the series, how concerned they are with Davis’ back spasms and Rajon Rondo’s current status and role with the team going forward. Rondo has been listed as doubtful for Game 5. He’s yet to make an appearance for the Lakers in Orlando.
The two also detail what they believe have been the biggest changes in the series thus far, and look ahead to the second round, which will feature either the Houston Rockets or Oklahoma City Thunder. The Rockets and Thunder are tied at two games a piece in their series.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
You can follow Alex Padilla on Twitter at @alexpadilla86, and Alex Regla at @AlexmRegla.