Lakers vs. Cavaliers Preview: Groundhog day

The Los Angeles Lakers have lost their last four games without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and they’ll be hoping the fifth time is the charm when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers at Staples Center on Friday night.

Normally this is where we’d preview the night’s matchup, or get into what the Lakers will need to win. But given that the purple and gold have lost all of these games in pretty much the exact same ways, I don’t really have any more thoughts to share on this current iteration of the team that are different than yesterday, or any of the prior previews.

It turns out a team designed to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis isn’t really built to win without both LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Who knew?

So for the second time in two nights, the undermanned Lakers will tip off against an Eastern Conference team at 7:00 p.m. at Staples Center. In proof there is a God, at least this game will not be nationally televised. And if for some reason you want to watch this one, you can do so locally on Spectrum SportsNet.

And as always, if you need a place to commiserate in the lead-up to or during the game, you can do so in the comments below.

Get well soon, LeBron and AD.

Notes and Updates

• These two teams have not put out their injury reports yet, and we will update this story when they do, but Marc Gasol told reporters last night that he was planning to play again on Friday, and hopefully to increase his minutes limit. So at least the Lakers will have a center.
• They might have another one soon, as they’re reportedly about to get meetings with LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Drummond.
• If you for any reason want to relive last night’s debacle game and/or the trade deadline, Sabreena and Christian broke it down on our postgame podcast.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.