Not only did the Los Angeles Lakers get their first win of the preseason on Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors, but they also saw the return of big man Anthony Davis, who missed the last two contests with lower back tightness.
With Davis’ injury issues the last two seasons, there was a ton of concern when he popped up on the Lakers’ injury report even though Darvin Ham insisted it was precautionary. But Davis did his best to silence some of the doubters after he finished the contest with 28 points on 9-of-18 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line in just 21 minutes.
Afterward, Davis spoke about being back on the court, saying it felt great not just to be back on the floor but also for the Lakers to get a victory, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It just felt great to get back on the floor. Preseason is used to get in shape, get in game shape, find that rhythm, and that’s what I tried to use it for. Use the things that I worked on all summer into these games, and it felt good. It felt good to see the ball go through the rim. It felt good for us to get a win, get used to winning and not used to losing even though it’s preseason. And it felt good for our guys to also have a rhythm. Matt [Ryan], Kendrick [Nunn], all these guys they’ve been playing well so it felt good tonight for all of us.”
Matt Ryan and Kendrick Nunn certainly played their roles in the Lakers’ victory with Nunn continuing his strong preseason with 21 points and seven assists off the bench while Ryan knocked down six 3-pointers on his way to a 20-point night.
But Davis remains the biggest story as his health and performance are absolutely paramount to the success of the Lakers this season. As far as his back goes, Davis reiterated it was not a concern and it only briefly bothered him when he checked out for the last time:
“Just when I got done, when my time was up, but other than that it’s fine. I do enough to get me ready to go for practices and games and then after that it’s just getting back to stretching and everything when practices are over or games are over.”
Davis remains one of the most talented players in the entire NBA and the Lakers big man has come under a lot of scrutiny over the last two seasons. But it is performances like this that bring everyone hope that he is still the dominant player who helped bring the Lakers the 2020 NBA Championship.
Ham not concerned with physical toll on Davis playing center
Much has been made of whether Davis will be playing more center or power forward with some wondering whether playing the 5 puts too much of a physical toll on his body that it can’t handle. Head coach Darvin Ham doesn’t believe that is the case, however.
“You don’t have to see the Shaqs anymore, the Patrick Ewings, those big, beefy guys that you have to wrestle with […] it’s basically having yourself be the best version of yourself physically and being available first and foremost as opposed to worrying about bumps and bruises whether you’re playing the 4 or 5.”
“So the key for AD is about the baseline fact of him being available and getting stronger as the season goes along, getting in better shape as we go by day after day. So it’s not so much about the banging and bruising, some of our best lineups are gonna entail him being at the 5.”
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