The Los Angeles Lakers are Kobe Bryant are globally popular and so is the NBA, which is why the team flew all the way across the world to play against the Golden State Warriors at the MasterCard Center In Beijing for two games in the preseason, the first of which will be on Tuesday and will broadcast on NBA TV in American markets at 7:30 pm eastern time and streaming online.
The Lakers are coming into the season with plenty of questions about the roster, including whether Kobe Bryant will come back healthy from an Achilles injury he suffered last season. Bryant said that if he really needed to he could play and even though Chinese fans want to see him on the court, he likely will not play until the regular season starts and he may not even make it for the opening game of the year. Bryant had surgery on his Achilles and many have said that the injury is one of the toughest to return from and the biggest thing for the Lakers will be whether he is 100 percent when he returns at the age of 35.
Bryant will not be playing in the preseason this year and the first game of the season will be at the end of October against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Lakers will be working in a number of new players in the rotation, including Wes Johnson, Nick Young, Chris Kaman and others, while they had Eric Boateng and Dan Gadzuric before cutting them loose before the preseason kicked into gear. The Lakers opened the preseason with a win against the Warriors and then split two games with the Denver Nuggets before playing and losing to the Sacramento Kings and heading into the preseason matchups with Golden State, the team has a 2-2 record.
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After playing the Warriors in China, the team comes back to the States to play two against the Utah Jazz and then they will start the season with the Clippers at the Staples Center in LA. This season the clippers are being looked at as a title contender way more than the Lakers are and that could continue over the next few years as Bryant gets older and the Clippers core of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan grows together. The Lakers feel that they can still be a playoff team this season with a full year under Mike D'Antoni they should be better prepared to take on teams like the Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and Clippers.
The team has a deep bench after bringing back Jordan Farmar and keeping Steve Blake and D'Antoni has some interesting options to use in games, including with Jodie Meeks and Jordan Hill, who should be able to help up front with Chris Kaman. The Lakers finished third in the division before getting swept out by the Spurs on their way to the finals and they come into the season after ranking sixth last year in points per game with over 100 and if Bryant is healthy they should easily be able to do that again, especially with Pau Gasol looking energized again after the departure of Dwight Howard.
The game is from China between the Lakers and the Warriors from NBA.com preseason streaming.
