Lakers vs Clippers rescheduled for April 9 after postponement following Kobe Bryant's death
The Lakers will play games on April 7, 8 and 9
Saturday 22 February 2020 08:43, UK
The game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Clippers, which was postponed when Lakers great Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter accident last month, has been rescheduled for April 9.
Bryant was killed along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others when the helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Los Angeles on January 26.
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The original game between the Lakers and the Clippers was scheduled for January 28, but the Lakers did not return to action until three days later in a match that was highlighted by an emotional pre-game speech by Lakers forward LeBron James.
Now the Lakers will play games on April 7, 8 and 9, creating a back-to-back-to-back for the team, the kind of which has not been seen since the last NBA lockout.
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel encountered a similar situation during his tenure as coach of the Indiana Pacers and already has an idea of how he will deal with it.
"We did this once in Indiana," Vogel said. "There was a game that got snowed out that we had to play three in a row, and we won all three. The mindset was like we're talking about now: Take it one game at a time, and go and compete and win that game."
"Some guys may not play in all three games. We'll have those conversations as we get closer to those games and see what the standings look like.
"That late in the season, the number one priority is going to be (staying) healthy and fresh going into the playoffs."
Bryant, 41, was one of the world's most admired athletes and played all 20 of his NBA seasons with the Lakers, where he helped the team win five championships.
Shocked and grief-stricken Los Angeles residents responded by painting murals of Bryant and his daughter and erecting massive memorials made of flowers, photographs and messages near the Lakers Staples Center home.
Bryant and his daughter were laid to rest at a private funeral service on February 7 and a memorial will be held at Staples Center on Monday.
Earlier this month, federal investigators said the two engines of the helicopter showed no evidence of a "catastrophic internal failure".
The interim report did not rule out that mechanical issues might yet be identified when the engines and other parts recovered from the wreckage of the Sikorsky S-76B are disassembled and more closely examined.
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