The Los Angeles Lakers were embarrassed on the road on Saturday night as they lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in what ended up being a blowout.
Even though the final score looked relatively close, the truth of the matter is that the Lakers succumbed to the Trail Blazers early in the night and never truly responded outside of a second-quarter stretch where they got within 11. Portland went up by as many as 34 points and never worried too much about the game’s outcome, especially once Anthony Davis was ruled out due to a stomach illness.
Davis entered the game questionable because of a sprained thumb, but the stomach issue was a surprise given there were no indications of it prior to tipoff. However, head coach Frank Vogel revealed that Davis vomited a few times beforehand and during the game.
“He was battling the thumb and whether that was going to inhibit him from playing and then he woke up this afternoon with a bit of a stomach bug. Came back in and said the thumb felt pretty good, probably good enough to play and then he went and threw up in the back,” Vogel said after the game.
“He still wanted to give it a go, but by the time tipoff came around, he had already thrown up four times. He wanted to try to just see if getting out on the floor would change it, but wasn’t able to go.”
The big man managed to only play seven minutes, scoring two points and grabbing three rebounds before exiting. With Davis off the floor, the Blazers did not find it too difficult to score while the Lakers looked completely out of sorts.
Without Davis and LeBron James, it was clear the Purple and Gold had no shot of winning especially considering Russell Westbrook had a forgettable game. The third superstar for the Lakers only scored eight points and committed six turnovers, a recipe for a loss that was as bad as it looked.
As of right now, it is too soon to tell whether or not Davis will be able to suit up on Monday against the Charlotte Hornets. However, even if he is available it is fair to wonder how effective he will be considering the issues he is currently dealing with.
There is still plenty of time for the Lakers to turn things around, but right now they are in a difficult spot and will need to work together to get back on track.
Austin Reaves calls for next man up mentality
Vogel has always preached a ‘next man up’ mentality when players on the roster are unavailable and it looks like his message has already stuck with rookie Austin Reaves, who called for the same thing.
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