It’s the preseason, you pay for your tickets and you take your chances. Sometimes you might not get to see LeBron James or whoever you paid to see.
If you bought tickets to the Lakers vs. Clippers game Wednesday night in L.A. hoping to see a little Los Angeles rivalry, well, sorry. You lose. This game will look nothing like the one that matters between these teams on Nov. 2.
Both Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard are expected to sit out for the Lakers.
Bryant has a sore foot that has kept him out of practice the past couple days and there is no chance the Lakers are going to push that for a preseason game. Lakers.com reporter Mike Trudell says Kobe almost certainly is out. Smart money says he sits out until the season opener a week from Tuesday. Now, if you think he’ll miss a regular season game, I’d like to know what Kobe you have been watching the past three seasons.
Howard’s back is reportedly a little sore after his first game action since April, so he is likely out also, reports Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The Lakers have a final preseason game against the Kings in San Diego on Thursday and Bresnahan bets he plays in that one, but the Lakers are not going to push him back-to-back in the preseason. Nor should they.
The Lakers are 0-6 in the preseason and the odds of them being any better than 1-7 when it all is over are slim. And that matters not at all. It’s the preseason. If the Lakers start 0-6 when the games matter, then we’ll talk.
