Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis put together another strong performance in the team’s overtime victory over the Utah Jazz. Davis scored 21 points on 7-for-16 from the field with 14 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.
But because of the overtime period, Davis would up playing 42 minutes. It’s the second-most minutes he’s played in a game all season, with the highest total being 46 on Dec. 13 against the Boston Celtics. After that game, the Lakers had two nights off before their next contest.
Now, they have less than 24 hours, including a flight from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, before their massive game against the L.A. Clippers on Wednesday night. The L.A. teams are tied in the standings at 41-38 with the Clippers holding the tiebreaker.
Davis has not played in both legs of a back-to-back since Nov. 6 and 7. He didn’t commit to anything either way, but didn’t rule out playing on Wednesday, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, tomorrow. Obviously I haven’t played in a back-to-back in a long time. And then I played 42 minutes, probably the most I’ve played since I’ve been back. We’ll all get on a phone call tomorrow and then just go from there.”
It’s still unclear whether or not he’ll play. But Davis is certainly motivated to get the win after the Lakers got a taste of the No. 6 seed on Tuesday night.
“We control our own destiny. Right now, we bumped up to six tonight, so we’re in the playoffs. But it might be depending on what Golden State does. But we just need to win basketball games, we’re not looking too many games ahead, we’ll worry about tomorrow now. That’s the Clippers. We’ll take care of business and go from there.”
If Davis does play, it would be just his second back-to-back of the season. But it would come at perhaps the most important time, with the Lakers all but finalizing a spot above the Play-In Tournament if they can defeat the Clippers on Wednesday.
A loss would likely keep the Lakers in the Play-In Tournament even if they would get the benefit of hosting the first game. The Lakers have to quickly figure out the statuses of all three of Davis, LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell.
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