Eye injury makes Lakers’ Anthony Davis questionable for game vs. Hawks
Washington, DC — A left corneal abrasion has the Lakers worried about starting Anthony Davis in Monday’s home game against the Atlanta Hawks. Davis departed Saturday’s 128-121 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena due to an eye contusion.
When the first quarter came to a close, Davis returned to the Lakers’ locker room for treatment after taking a layup attempt by Trayce Jackson-Davis to the temple with 2:47 remaining. During the subsequent possession by the Warriors, the All-Star big man did not return to defense.
Despite returning to the locker room in between quarters, Davis remained in the game until the very end, when he and Jaxson Hayes made an offensive-defensive change. He played 12 minutes in the first quarter and finished with 8 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists before being officially ruled out of the game early in the third quarter.
The loss of Davis in Saturday’s game was noticeable right away. The Lakers were ahead 36-30 entering the second quarter, but they were outscored 37-30 in the quarter that Davis sat out, resulting in a halftime deficit of 67-66.
Once Davis stepped off the court, Golden State made quick work of getting into the paint. In a statement, LeBron James explained that the loss of AD disrupts the team’s equilibrium. Because of this, a lot of things have changed, even if our coaching staff has been competent with a certain rotation and our methods inside it. You must give props to the Golden State. They did a fantastic job. When a crucial piece of the puzzle is missing, it becomes quite difficult.
In the twelve minutes that Davis played in the first quarter, the Warriors managed to score only four points in the paint.
Taking advantage of the Lakers’ smaller lineups, they scored 58 points in the fourth quarter on drives to the hoop and assists into the paint. Davis had distorted vision and couldn’t see out of his left eye after being hit, according to Coach Darvin Ham.
Until halftime, “the doctors were working on him” (according to Ham), after he had returned to the training room from the field. “The most important thing is to make sure he’s okay. We will receive an update on his condition soon.”
Due to a left corneal abrasion, Anthony Davis was listed as questionable for Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks by the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
During Saturday night’s game against Golden State, Warriors forward Trayce Jackson-Davis accidentally smacked Davis in the face when he was scoring a layup, causing Davis to sustain an injury in the first quarter. He kept playing for a while longer, but he eventually walked away from the game and never came back.
With Gabe Vincent and Cam Reddish out with injuries, the Lakers employed Jaxson Hayes as their lone big man for the last three quarters, adding to their roster deficits caused by the absence of bigger frontcourt players like Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Colin Castleton.
As of this past Saturday, Davis had played 2,264 minutes, good for sixth most in the league, and had missed only four games all season.
Playing without him is something we’re not used to, as D’Angelo Russell stated. We’ve never encountered that before. Yet, that is insufficient justification. The rest of the entrants did their best as well. That team, though, is tough and well-coached.
After losing to the Warriors, the Lakers fell to #3 in the Western Conference, one game behind the Suns, Mavericks, and Kings with 14 games remaining.
Russell warned that “scrape wins” would require all their resources. Each one is significant during this season. The standings are all that matter, and every game is important.
