The Los Angeles Lakers’ road trip got off to a strong start with a double overtime win over the Golden State Warriors, but they followed it up with dispiriting losses to the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks.
The Lakers have been more down than up the past month, so hopes weren’t very high when they continued their road trip against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. Making matters even worse, Los Angeles declared LeBron James and Anthony Davis out for the game against Boston.
However, the purple and gold shocked the league when they upset the Celtics 114-105 to secure their biggest win of the 2023-24 season. Even at full strength, a win seemed unlikely because Boston has the best record in the NBA but to do it without James and Davis is beyond impressive.
Prior to tip off, head coach Darvin Ham explained that James and Davis were ruled out because of the injuries they’ve been managing the whole season, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Basically just those guys dealing with two active injuries that we have been managing pretty much all year,” Ham said. “They got inflamed a little bit but wanted to let them go through shootaround to see how it was and determined ultimately that they would be out for tonight.”
James was ruled out due to a sore left ankle, while Davis missed his second consecutive game because of bilateral Achilles tendinopathy and left hip spasms. James has suffered a few sprained ankles over the course of the season and seemed to tweak his left one in the game against Atlanta. Meanwhile, Davis was clearly laboring against Houston and the team decided it was time him for him to rest.
The star duo has had to carry the team on both ends of the floor for most of the regular season, but the rest of the roster finally stepped up and played their best team basketball to date. Without James and Davis on the floor, the Laker role players did all the little things on the floor to beat the Celtics.
Los Angeles proved they can hang with the best teams in the league, but they need to play with that same effort and energy when James and Davis are healthy.
Lakers’ Anthony Davis named reserve for 2024 All-Star Game
Although Davis was ruled out against the Celtics, he was still honored before the game as he was announced as a reserve for the upcoming 2024 All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
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