Watch Portland Trail Blazers @ Los Angeles Lakers Game 5 live on Sky Sports Arena in the early hours of Sunday morning (2am)
Saturday 29 August 2020 13:07, UK
Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel described LeBron James as 'aways a tower of strength' for his team and expressed his excitement over the resumption of the playoffs.
Game 5 of the Lakers' first-round playoff series with the Portland Trail Blazers was postponed on Wednesday night following the Milwaukee Bucks' decision to boycott their playoff game against the Orlando Magic to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The potential series-clinching game will now be played in the early hours of Sunday morning (2am), live on Sky Sports Arena.
Speaking after Lakers practice on Friday, Vogel said of James: "He is always a tower of strength for our guys and a great leader - and hasn't been any different in the last couple of days.
"He was excited to get back on the basketball court, today the whole group was excited to get back on the basketball court and we are excited to resume play."
With a 3-1 series lead, Game 5 offers the Lakers a chance to clinch a place in the Western Conference semi-finals, where a match-up with the Houston Rockets or Oklahoma City Thunder awaits.
Despite the uncertainty that followed Wednesday night's unprecedented events, Vogel backed his players to enter Game 5 in a frame of mind where they are ready to compete.
"It was a heavy couple of days. But our group has a PhD in handling adversity by now. We have been through a lot this year," he said. "I wanted to have a mentally light day today where we just hit the floor and got right to playing. I feel like it was good for our guys to get back on the court. We are focused on our process and competing in the games.
"When adversity strikes in peoples' individual lives or in the bigger picture like we saw over the last couple of days, that makes the surroundings more difficult to handle. Personal adversity hits you a little harder in this environment.
Hopefully, our guys have had a chance to recentre themselves and are excited about getting back to playing.
"I just think our group, in particular, has great leadership and great togetherness. It has been an emotional time for the last couple of days, for the whole league, for our group, a lot of emotional ups and downs. I am happy to see where this landed and our group right now is...we just had a great practice and guys are focused and ready to resume."
Although Portland won the series opener, they have lost the last three contests, including an uncompetitive 135-115 Game 4 loss on Monday night.
Worse for the Trail Blazers is that star guard Damian Lillard has left the bubble and returned to Portland to have his sprained right knee examined. Lillard twice scored 34 points in the series, including Game 3 when he played with a dislocated left index finger.
CJ McCollum, who is averaging 20 points and 5.8 rebounds in the series, will be asked to be the lead man. Gary Trent Jr will likely move into a starting backcourt spot for a team that will also hope veteran forward Carmelo Anthony steps up.
The 6ft 5in Trent has been assigned to guard the bigger James on occasion and he said he is enjoying the responsibility.
"Competing, talking a little bit, doing what I do, anything I can do to affect the game, Trent said of defending James. "It has been a great thing, it's a fun thing so far. Continue to grow and get better for it game by game."
The Lakers aren't about to take the Trail Blazers lightly even if Lillard is over 3,000 miles away and James is well aware that closeout game are not easy to win.
"The team that you are playing is desperate and they are going to give you everything they got because they know they can be sent home," James said. "So I have to come in with that same desperate mindset. That's always been my psyche going into a close-out game."
