LeBron James and the Cavaliers were at the hands of a 127-113 loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Sunday night. After the game, James made it clear that injuries are playing a factor in Cleveland’s recent losses. The new-look Cavs are now 6-6 after the trade deadline.
“Listen, at the end of the day you’ve got to want the most out of whoever you’ve got on the floor,” said James. “You want to get the most from whoever is playing, but sometimes you can’t overcome this many injuries that we have. We have pretty much five guys out of our top nine or top 10 of our rotation not playing because of injuries. It’s next man up, but sometimes you just fall short.”
James went on to say that you don’t know if you can judge what the Cavs have on the court right now. The Cavs were without significant contributors in Rodney Hood, Kevin Love and Tristant Thompson vs the Lakers. Hood has a lower back strain, Love is dealing with a fractured hand, and Thompson has a sprained right ankle.
As James said following their loss, the situation is all about the next man up. Three of their next five opponents will be against the Trailblazers, Bucks, and a dominant Raptors team that sits atop the Eastern Conference.
Flip the page to watch James addressing Cleveland’s injury woes following their loss to the Lakers.
