The Los Angeles Lakers had a golden opportunity to work their way up in the standings on Wednesday night, playing the division rival Sacramento Kings, who were just two games ahead of them in the standings.
Unfortunately though, as has been the case so many times, the Lakers squandered that opportunity with a disappointing loss. L.A. was swept by the Kings in the season series and now sits firmly in the No. 9 position in a loaded Western Conference with only a handful of regular season games to play.
A big reason that the Lakers have struggled against the Kings this season has been the All-Star big man matchup between Anthony Davis and Domantas Sabonis. Davis’ teams are now 0-10 against Sabonis’ in their careers and while that hasn’t always been because of the play of those to, it has played a big part this season.
Sabonis got the better of Davis again on Wednesday due to his physical play in the paint. The Kings star had another triple-double with 17 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists on 6-of-10 shootings.
Davis finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and three assists but shot just 7-of-18 from the field and was not able to make his usual two-way impact for the Lakers.
Physical centers like Sabonis seem to have Davis’ number, but Lakers head coach Darvin Ham isn’t concerned about his big man moving forward, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“I don’t want to belittle Sabonis. He’s a hell of a player. But I’ve seen AD make those shots plenty of times. Yeah, he’s physical, but you have bad shooting nights, just like (Russell) wasn’t hitting the marks he usually hits. It wasn’t there tonight. (Sabonis) is a hell of a player but I know who I’m coaching, too. This guy’s a hell of a player as well, a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’ll bounce back, I’m sure.”
After the game, Davis gave credit to Sabonis for his physical play to lead his team to another victory. While the Lakers and Kings won’t meet again this regular season, this matchup is something L.A. and Davis are going to have to figure out moving forward into future seasons.
In the meantime though, it’s hard to disagree with Ham that Davis will bounce back in the Lakers’ next game, as he has done so many times.
Anthony Davis frustrated with Lakers’ loss to Kings
Part of why Ham believes Davis will bounce back quickly because of how much he cares. That was evident when he expressed frustration after the loss to the Kings, understanding the importance of that game for the Lakers.
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