The Los Angeles Lakers’ season has already been filled with ups and downs as although they sit at 11-8 through 19 games, they have been on the right and wrong end of some blowouts.
That was epitomized on their current road trip when they began with a close win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. They were then blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers in one of the worst losses in franchise history before responding and beating the Detroit Pistons by 26 on Wednesday night.
It’s been particularly hard to assess exactly what the Lakers have in this team considering how many key guys have missed significant time due to injury, including Jarred Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish, Gabe Vincent and Rui Hachimura. That was the sentiment that Anthony Davis shared after the Pistons win, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“No. Because we haven’t been healthy. I think we are staying afloat and winning games that we should win, but also losing games that we feel like we should win. But, I mean, I think through 20 games, obviously, we feel like we could be better. We could’ve won games that we lost. But we’re OK. Especially without being fully healthy with some of our top guys. So we feel like we’re in a good spot.”
Reddish was back in the lineup for the Lakers in the win over the Pistons after missing time with a groin strain. With Vanderbilt, Vincent and Hachimura all hopefully back soon, Davis is excited to see what the team can look like at full strength:
“Just having Cam back out there, his presence always helps, and just having extra bodies. Vando coming back soon, so just having another body on the floor just really gives us a chance to evaluate our team and who we can be. Obviously when Gabe gets back, we’re an even better team, so just trying to hold down the fort until all our guys get back healthy.”
In a season that’s already been filled with ups and downs, it’s easy for people to overreact either way to a win or loss. But Davis emphasized that he and his teammates need to stay even keeled through it all knowing it’s a long season:
“Never get too high, never get too low. When you win, don’t think it’s the NBA Finals. And when you lose, don’t feel like you lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Stay even keeled because you got to line it up in the next couple days, if not the next day. So you can never get too high or too low, just stay even keeled.”
Davis himself has had some inconsistent performances although he has been better of late, leading the Lakers on both ends of the floor in their dominant win over the Pistons.
More importantly, he and LeBron James have been able to stay relatively healthy so far, which will be key for the Lakers moving forward regardless of who else is in the lineup.
Davis happy to have home court for In-Season Tournament quarterfinals
Even though it’s still early in the regular season, the Lakers have a big game coming up when they host the Phoenix Suns in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals on Dec. 5.
The Lakers earned home court advantage for that game by going 4-0 in group play, and Davis is excited that they’ll be playing at home in front of their fans.
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