After a down game against the Sacramento Kings, Anthony Davis need to bounce back against the Milwaukee Bucks and lead the charge offensively for the Los Angeles Lakers as his co-star LeBron James sat out due to a left ankle injury.
In a game that featured a dynamic duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, it certainly presented a challenge defensively for L.A. However, Davis and D’Angelo Russell held their own against Milwaukee’s duo, ultimately propelling the Lakers to a win, thanks to Russell’s 44 points and nine 3-pointers.
This has been the theme for the Lakers this season as inconsistent play from game to game hasn’t allowed them to move up the standings. To fall flat against the Kings, then beat a Bucks team that is streaking out the All-Star break, shows that and Davis admits L.A. has to solve this problem.
“We’re gonna have to,” Davis said after Friday’s win. “I think our goal, I think we had fun tonight just playing for each other and playing the right way. No matter who scored, we’re able to talk to each other. I think early in the third, DLo came down and shot an airball 3 and I told him right there ‘DLo, that’s a bad shot’ right on the court. So it’s like when you’re able to have dialogue like that, knowing that everybody wants to win, it’s easier to just play the game the right way and play for each other. Like I said, we were having fun, taking the challenge obviously. [The Bucks] are a phenomenal team, I think they’ve been No. 1 in defense over the last 10, and to come out and get this win, especially without Bron, was great. We’ve been able to share the ball, guys make plays, it was a big win for us.”
Currently three games back of the Phoenix Suns of the No. 6 seed, Davis stresses playing hard as this month’s schedule presents challenging matchups.
“We had a conversation after the Sac game,” he said. “We let that one get away. I mean, we won all the quarters except for the second quarter and that’s what the game has turned for. Tonight, just coming out and just playing as hard as we can. Leaving everything on the floor, knowing that we have a lot of tough opponents coming up. I mean, we have Minnesota [Timberwolves] Sunday.”
“We got Sac again, Milwaukee [Bucks] again, Golden State [Warriors]. So we have a lot of teams that is really good in the East. It’s gonna be a tough matchup for us and a good matchup for us. And then we also got teams in the West that were playing that is doing the same thing that we’re doing so each one is important, and we make sure that we try to address it before every game just to have that mentality.”
There is little room for error as the regular season winds down for the Lakers and Davis acknowledges the importance of playing with a sense of urgency to potentially get out of the Play-In Tournament.
Anthony Davis did what he could to help Lakers beat Bucks despite suffering shoulder injury
Friday night was a back and forth game that saw Davis sustaining a shoulder injury in the third quarter. However, Davis gutted it out for the rest of the game, doing all he could to get the Lakers a much-needed win.
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