Wednesday featured a rematch between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Indiana Pacers, which marked the return of Anthony Davis. After missing one game, Davis came back with the hope of taking L.A. to 3-0 on their six-game road trip.
In 38 minutes, the big man asserted his dominance by dropping 24 points and 15 rebounds on 9-for-17 from the field. However, as a team, the Lakers struggled to shoot from inside and out as they shot 40.7% from the field and 5-for-30 from the 3-point line, ultimately resulting in a 109-90 loss as he purple and gold were unable to find any consistency on both sides of the floor.
Davis was asked postgame if it was a missed opportunity for the Lakers, who had their five-game winning streak snapped and explained why he thought it was, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, for sure. It’s not about that. Teams can play well and beat us. I think it’s the way we lost tonight that makes it a wasted opportunity. We don’t shoot the ball well, you can’t control that, but we didn’t play well defensively, we turned the ball over, wasn’t getting back in transition. So the way we lost, I think is where the wasted opportunity is at. Like I said, we’ve been playing great basketball and these guys could’ve just shot the ball extremely well and you tip your hats off to them, but we didn’t play our style of basketball on either end of the floor so that’s the tough part. That’s where the wasted opportunity comes in at.”
The bright side is that this loss did not affect the Lakers when it comes to the standings, but they can rectify this missed opportunity. In these final three games of the trip, the purple and gold face teams that are below .500, which if they win can result in making up ground.
There is still a lot to be positive about going down these last eight games of the regular season, but L.A. cannot afford any more lackluster performances due to the West playoff race being tight and plenty of room to fluctuate.
Anthony Davis expects to play through knee issue that is ‘still sore’
Unfortunately, Anthony Davis suffered a hyperextended left knee on Tuesday in Milwaukee, but he has shown this year that he will play through injury. As the Lakers need all hands on deck to prepare for a postseason push, Davis is expected to play through this knee injury despite it still being sore.
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