With their victory on Tuesday night over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Lakers finally found themselves on the inside of the playoff picture. The Lakers currently sit at ninth in the Western Conference, good enough for a Play-In Tournament spot and much of that has to do with the excellent play of superstar big man Anthony Davis.
Davis dominated the Grizzlies with 30 points and 22 rebounds and has regained his form from earlier this season, once again looking like one of the best players in all of basketball. And while Davis and the Lakers are surely happy to find themselves in playoff position, Davis does not want the team to stop there.
“It’s good, but we’re not satisfied,” Davis said after Tuesday’s victory. “We don’t want to stop there. We want to be greedy. Get as many wins as possible and try to keep moving up that ladder. We still have to take care of business and do what we’re supposed to do. But it feels good to move up another spot and continue chasing our goals, which is to not only being in the play-in but possibly secure a top-six spot.”
It is important for the Lakers to continue focusing on each game as they can not afford to look ahead against anyone. But with Davis playing at this level, and the role players getting more and more comfortable, the Lakers are showing that they can compete with any team on any given night.
Moving into the sixth seed would allow the Lakers to move out of the Play-In Tournament and that is well within their reach. The current sixth seed is the Los Angeles Clippers, who are two games ahead of the Lakers but have just one fewer loss.
The Lakers have 16 games remaining to make that push ahead and it will not be an easy road. But with Davis playing at this level, anything seems possible.
Lakers’ Anthony Davis talks about facial injury suffered against Grizzlies
What makes Davis’ performance against the Grizzlies even more impressive is that he missed a large portion of the second quarter after being hit in the face. Many were concerned considering Davis’ injury history, but the Lakers big man clarified exactly what kept him out for so long.
“I got two like cuts on my nose and that’s what couldn’t stop bleeding, and then obviously my nose was bleeding as well,” Davis said … “But it was the cut on the outside that just kept bleeding. It didn’t require stitches. Just had to stop the bleeding and it took a little process to do so.”
So the concerns about Davis were unnecessary as it was simply a cut that refused to stop bleeding, which has happened to many different players in the league. Davis is good to go and will continue looking to lead the Lakers to more big wins and improve their playoff positioning.
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