LeBron James listed as questionable for Lakers vs. Pistons

LeBron James returned from an eight-game absence on Friday night against the Boston Celtics, finally being cleared by the Lakers medical staff to return to the court following a persistent abdominal strain.

His return wasn’t enough to fix all the team’s issues, a reality made clear by their 130-108 loss in Boston, but in a small bit of good news, James said he felt “OK” after the game.

“Obviously being out two-and-a-half weeks, I felt like a rookie again, just being away from the game,” James said. “Physically, I felt OK, good enough to know that I could trust my body and get out and play tonight.”

The Lakers are listing him as questionable for their Sunday matchup with the Detroit Pistons.

James, who used a heat pack throughout the game while on the bench to make sure his abdominal muscles didn’t cool down too much while he was resting, looked all right physically while scoring 23 points on 10-16 shooting, but he said the real test of his recovery will come on Saturday morning.

“I’m more looking forward to seeing how I feel tomorrow when I wake up. That is the telltale sign of if I’m moving in the right direction with my injury,” James said.

The Lakers will have to hope he is, because losers of three straight games, this team needs all the help they can get as their road trip continues with games against the Detroit Pistons (Sunday), New York Knicks (Tuesday) and Indian Pacers (Wednesday).

Stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for continuing updates on James’ status as those games approach, but for now, this is good news on a night that didn’t feature a whole lot of it for the purple and gold.

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