The Lakers Lose Anthony Davis and 6 Other Observations From Lakers-Knicks
Written by SOURCE on January 8, 2020
It was shaping up to be 48 completely forgettable minutes of basketball between the Lakers and the Knicks Tuesday until one of the league’s best squads lost one of its best players for at least the next few games.
During a terrible January basketball evening where New York, making its final appearance this season in Los Angeles looked like it didn’t want to be here, the biggest news to come out of the Lakers 117-87 trouncing of the Knicks at Staples Center was the expected loss of Anthony Davis for at least a few games.
Davis went down hard trying to defend a Julius Randle shot near the rim in the third quarter and reportedly underwent an MRI to determine the severity of a tailbone injury that had him writhing in pain underneath the basket. The star forward landed awkwardly on his back and gingerly walked back to the Lakers locker room after spending several minutes on the hardwood surrounded by teammates and medical personnel. He did not return to the court, finishing with just 5 points in 31 minutes. He left the arena early and didn’t speak to the media after the game.
“He’s one of our pillars,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s our present, he’s our future. He’s one of the best players in the world. He obviously means a lot.”
Davis has been playing at an MVP-caliber level for the Lakers (30-7) and his loss—with games coming up against the Mavericks and Thunder on the road—will be felt if he ends up missing them, as early reports indicated he most likely would.
“We hope that he’ll be fine, which we believe he’ll be fine,” LeBron James said. “If it causes AD to miss any time, the next man up has to be even better.”
That’s obviously impossible, which LeBron immediately acknowledged after saying that. AD’s injury was about the only drama we saw on the court from a game that was a complete bore. Sure there were a pair of flagrant fouls committed by the Knicks in the second and third quarters that stirred up the crowd of 18,997, but other than that nothing about this game stood out. It was the epitome of January game where the bad team—playing the third game of a four-game west coast swing—played like it can’t wait to return home while the better squad took care of business like expected. Here’s six things we saw and heard at Staples.
