The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their first home game of the season, falling to the Sacramento Kings by 15 points on the second night of a back-to-back. And the main story coming out of the game was the rough performance from Anthony Davis.
Davis had his worst game of the year, finishing with just nine points and nine rebounds along with five turnovers. While Davis did have four blocks, Kings big man Domantas Sabonis had his way with the Lakers, finishing with 29 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
And afterwards, Davis offered no excuses for his poor play. “I just played bad,” Davis said. “I’m not gonna put it on anything. It was just missed shots. Just played like shit tonight, to be honest. It’s that simple.”
Accountability is a theme for this Lakers team and Davis is taking full blame for his bad night. While he won’t offer excuses, some could point to his lingering hip issue as reason for his struggles and though he did admit it still bothers him some, Davis brushed that off as well.
“Still treating it every day,” Davis added. “Obviously, you don’t get that day to really attack it, [with it being a] back-to-back. But, I mean, it is what it is. If I suit up and play, I got to be more effective. Obviously, it was still bothering me a little bit, but I still got to go out there and do my job.”
The Lakers never led in the game and trailed by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter, but the team did make a run late to get within single digits before finally running out of steam late. Davis believes this showed the type of team the Lakers are, one who never quits.
“We just continued to fight. Made a push and then had some missed shots and a couple turnovers late,” the big man added. “But that was really it. Like you said, we could’ve pulled the plug but we’re not a quitting team. We continued to fight and we’ll get ready to lace them up against Portland on Friday to try to get back in the win column.”
As Davis noted, the Lakers have the chance to get right back in the win column on Friday night when they travel to take on the Portland Trail Blazers and Davis made it clear he will be on the court despite the ongoing hip issue.
“I’ll be fine. Yeah, I’m playing. For sure.”
Coming off a disappointing performance like this, Davis will surely be looking to bounce back in a big way against the Trail Blazers.
Austin Reaves says Lakers always have a chance if Anthony Davis is on the court
While some on the outside of the Lakers locker room question Davis, especially after games like this most recent one, his teammates have the utmost belief in him. After the Lakers’ recent victory over Portland in which Davis led the way without LeBron James, Austin Reaves expressed that feeling.
“But he’s Anthony Davis. Anytime he gets on the floor, obviously, you never want to have anybody out, especially Bron. But anytime you got Anthony Davis, you got a chance. Changes the game in so many different ways that the stat sheet doesn’t even show. And yeah, happy to have him on our team.”
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