Six days following his last appearance, Kobe Bryant expects to be back playing for the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night at Staples Center.
Nearly a week after losing to the Clippers by 25 points, Bryant and the Lakers welcome a Miami Heat team fresh off its own 14-point victory over those same Clippers. Dwayne Wade and the Heat have won two of their last three games. Still, Miami has lost five of its last seven games and has a 16-21 record on the season.
In the Eastern Conference, a losing record is good enough for Miami to be seventh and involved in the playoff picture.
In the Western Conference, the Lakers' dismal 12-26 record offers no illusions of playing past April 15th. The talent evaluation segment of the season is generally reserved for after February's All-Star break, but the Lakers have seemingly been neck deep in that process for the majority of the season. A cocktail of injuries and losing have forced the Lakers into that process, and yes, Bryant's "rest" qualifies as an injury.
On Tuesday, however, the Lakers will have a fully healthy squad. Okay, so Steve Nash (back) and Julius Randle (leg and ankle) are out, but they’re not coming back for the remainder of the season. For the 2014-15 Lakers, Tuesday is as healthy as this team has looked, and keep in mind that the Lakers will feature two mask-wearing starters recovering from broken noses.
To start out 2015, the Lakers have won two of six games since the start of the New Year. Newcomer Tarik Black has been a standout and earned valuable minutes off the bench. In his last two games, the undrafted rookie is 7-7 from the field and averaging 10.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.
Another player giving the Lakers life in the New Year is Jeremy Lin, who appears to be finally adjusting to his role off the bench. Lin is averaging 13.8 points and 3.5 assists in 24.0 minutes per game in 2015. Also, Lin is shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from behind the three-point line in the New Year. The point guard's 2.3 turnovers per game in January are still a concern, but overall, Lin has been a far more consistent weapon off the Lakers' bench since the clock struck 2015.
For the starters, Jordan Hill has recently regained form. The Lakers' center is averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game over his past four games. Hill has been shooting 58.7 percent from the field over the past four games, and his long-range jump shot has been on target of late.
With Bryant back, the Lakers will hope to continue building off recent improvements on both sides of the basketball. Along with balancing the offense, the Lakers have also held three of their last five opponents under 100 points. Not coincidentally, the Lakers won two of the three games when they restricted their opponents to a low total.
The Lakers and Heat tip-off at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
