The Lakers badly need to come up with a win in Minnesota this weekend, as the teams split their two games in Los Angeles in their first-round NBA playoff series, costing the purple-and-gold their homecourt advantage.
Lakers coach JJ Redick hoped that the team could seize the opportunity to play road villains in Minnesota, especially on Friday night at the Target Center. Speaking to reporters before the start of the game, Redick said his team had an opportunity to ruin some folks’ evenings.
Via reporter Mike Trudell of Spectrum Sportsnet, Redick said: “The opportunity to silence them and ruin their day … the feeling you get on the road in the playoffs when you win a game … there’s something awesome about it.”
But the Lakers ran into an unexpected roadblock in Game 3. While star forward LeBron James was in tip-top health for the contest, his top running mate–guard Luka Doncic–was severely under the weather, battling an apparent stomach virus.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77)
Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
Trudell provided that update during the game, writing, “Luka Doncic has been dealing with an upset stomach today, lasting up through pregame. Low energy, but he wanted to compete, and has 2 points and 5 assists in 8 minutes thus far.”
Doncic did warm up a bit as the game–a tight one between the teams–progressed. But still, fans were not very happy that the Lakers did not reveal Doncic’s ailment until the game was already underway.
And, spoiler alert, many of those fans likely had included Doncic in certain betting propositions.
“Convenient this only gets revealed now,” said Mark Gurman, a Bloomberg editor.
Another angry fan noted, “They should probably announce if someone is (expletive) sick before people start betting on them. Mfs all took Luka doncic over this mf got a stomach bug bro this nba (expletive) so rigged.”
Said another: “Oh, that’s great. So instead of sitting out, he’s gonna barely play, play like ass, and cost people $ in the process. Selfish decision. Sit out if you’re sick ffs.”
Still another: “Glad they released this information before the game.”
Alas, Doncic is playing and while he’s not likely to morph into a good parlay pick, the Lakers still have a chance to pick up the win … which is a bit more significant for them.
