Lakers’ Anthony Davis says injury not to blame for 9-point night vs. Kings،
LOS ANGELES – Although Lakers strongman Anthony Davis admitted tightness in his left hip increased in the first half Wednesday night, he wouldn’t blame his poor play in the 125-1 loss. 110 against the Sacramento Kings.
“I just played bad,” Davis said after tying a season-low with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting. “I’m not going to put it on anything. … It was just shots missed. I just played like crap tonight. It’s as simple as that.”
Davis, who has been dealing with a hip injury for more than a week, wasn’t the only one struggling as the Lakers’ three-game winning streak came to an end. He had five turnovers and Los Angeles coughed him up 23 times as a team, leading to 30 points for the Kings.
The Lakers led by as many as 20 points in the first quarter and 26 in the game, while Sacramento led by 29 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals from Domantas Sabonis; 28 points, 5 assists and 4 steals from De’Aaron Fox; and 28 points, 7 assists and 2 steals from Kevin Huerter.
Davis, meanwhile, appeared limited in his movement by the same injury that caused him to miss the end of the Lakers’ road loss to the Miami Heat, followed by their 34-point drubbing of the Houston Rockets.
In contrast, a dominant Davis appeared Tuesday in the Lakers’ 134-107 blowout victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, when he scored 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 blocks in 27 minutes .
The difference between the two games for Davis was not only in the results, but also in the preparation. With the Kings game on the second night of a row, treatment options were limited.
“I still deal with it every day,” Davis said. “Obviously, we don’t have that day to really attack back to back. But that’s how it is. I get dressed, I’m going to play. I have to be more efficient. Obviously, it was always embarrassing for me a little, but I still have to go out there and do my job.”
Los Angeles trailed by 23 points heading into the fourth quarter, and with a schedule as busy as it is – with a third game in four nights Friday at the Portland Trail Blazers with a steal in between – Los Angeles coach Lakers, Darvin Ham, could have pulled out of the game early.
Instead, he kept his key rotation players, and they managed to cut the margin to nine with 3:05 left before Sacramento settled back to put the game out of reach.
“I told them at the break, at the end of the third, ‘We’ve got about four or five minutes to see if we can do something and build that lead, minimize the deficit,'” Ham said. “And they came out, we changed our zone defense, which helped slow them down a little bit, and we were able to shoot on the other end. … The five guys that finished for us, you gotta give give them a chance to see what we can do.
The Lakers were unable to capitalize on a strong night from LeBron James, who became the second-oldest player to record a triple-double, finishing with 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Karl Malone did it at age 40 while playing for the Lakers; James will turn 39 next month. In doing so, James passed Jason Kidd for 5th place on the all-time triple-double list with 108. And he also went 3 of 7 on 3-pointers, passing Jason Terry for 8th place all-time. time. List 3s with 2,283.
The exploits were moot for James, who acknowledged the spot the Lakers find themselves in at 6-6, still missing the expected rotation pieces in Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent, with more challenges on the horizon.
“We have too many games coming up for us very soon and they are going to fly away,” James said. “It’s three out of four nights. We play Friday. We play Sunday. We have a lot of games coming up. You learn from some mistakes. You learn from some of the good things. But then you move on.”
Davis assured reporters that when the team visits Portland on Friday, he will be back in the lineup, despite the hip discomfort he experienced against the Kings.
“It’ll be fine,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll play. Of course.”
