The Los Angeles Lakers followed up a successful six-game road trip by coming home and getting another big win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. But head coach Darvin Ham’s team couldn’t keep the momentum going against the Minnesota Timberwolves as Anthony Davis had to exit early and the team just wasn’t able to make up for his loss as they fell by 10.
Davis has been the Lakers’ best and most reliable player this season, missing just five games all year while being the anchor of the team, especially on the defensive end. And Ham made it clear that with everything that Davis does for this team, it hurt to see him leave early.
“He’s extremely valuable. Everybody around here knows that,” Ham said. “Everything he brings on both sides of the ball, it’s tough already being without Bron and then seeing him go out, it’s tough.”
Davis was hit in the eye in the first quarter of the game, the second time in the past couple of weeks that he has had to leave early due to an eye issue. But even without both Davis and LeBron James, the Lakers fought to the end against one of the best teams in the West and Ham was proud of the effort they showed.
“But my hats off to our guys, they didn’t feel sorry for themselves, they kept competing all the way through,” Ham added. “Just had some unfortunate possessions offensively, couldn’t make shots, we looked a little tired, guys not having their legs up under them after an 11-day road trip, six games, come back home, 12:30 game on Saturday so we had to go in on Friday and do our shootaround.
“Then you got Cleveland, who’s fighting for positioning in the East at the top of that conference and then you got Minnesota, who’s fighting for positioning at the top of our conference. It’s two tough games, but I’m proud of our guys. The way they competed, I know we lost, but I’m super duper proud of the effort they gave to try to win the game.”
Jaxson Hayes, in particular, stood out as he was basically the Lakers’ lone big man with Davis out. He would finish with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in his best game in the purple and gold. Rui Hachimura led the Lakers with 30 points as he continued his scorching hot offensive play of late.
It just wasn’t enough in the end, especially against a team as good as the Timberwolves. But that level of heart and effort, combined with Davis and LeBron James being healthy, is what the Lakers need to make some noise in the playoffs.
‘Optimism’ Anthony Davis will suit up for Lakers vs. Warriors on Tuesday
Obviously the big question now is whether Anthony Davis will be good to go when the Lakers take the court in their next game against the Golden State Warriors and it looks to be trending towards yes.
There reportedly is ‘optimism’ within the Lakers that Davis will be able to play on Tuesday night, coincidentally against the team in which he originally suffered an eye injury on a wayward elbow.
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