Getty Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James #23
Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Davis who has been playing through right shoulder soreness, took a shot to the ribs in the first quarter of their victory against the Phoenix Suns Tuesday. Eventually, he retreated to the locker room between the third and fourth quarters to get taped up then returned to the game. The Lakers said X-rays on his ribs came back negative but the star will not be playing Wednesday as the Lakers take on the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis (shoulder and rib soreness) will not play tonight against the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
Davis played through the injury during their matchup against the Suns but it didn’t prevent him from posting 24 points and 12 rebounds in 38 minutes on an efficient 9-17 night from the field.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Davis was “playing through a lot of pain,” crediting him for checking back into the game with 8:41 remaining in the fourth quarter and closing things out.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 43 points against the Suns tonight
LeBron James: 19 pts, 11 assists, 7 rebounds
Anthony Davis: 24 points, 4 assists, 12 rebounds
Mike Chiari from Bleacher Report reveals Davis stated “I just want to play. Like I said, it’s tough for me to lead from the sideline. The more I can do on the floor to help this team win, that’s what I try to do. I know what our goal is; I know what we’re trying to build. So the more I can try to stay on the floor, the more steps we move toward our goal.”
Maintaining without Davis
With the absence of Davis, Los Angeles could be in a better position than a week ago to fill the void as Kyle Kuzma showed signs of being up to speed Tuesday. Perhaps his best game of the season, dropping 23 points and helping surge the Lakers into a win over Phoenix. Kuzma scored eight of his total points in the fourth quarter — including consecutive 3-pointers inside of three minutes to boost the Lakers’ lead from one to seven — in his most complete effort since returning from a left ankle injury that caused him to miss the first four games of the season.
Kyle Kuzma’s back-to-back threes iced the win for the Lakers 🔥
(via @NBA)
As Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports Vogel stated “If [Kuzma] can bounce back and have another great night tomorrow night, that would be huge,” adding “I don’t know what the status of those guys is going to be, but obviously if this was [Kuzma’s] first or second game back, we’d have a lot more to be concerned about.”
Considering how beat up Davis is right now, the Lakers should be able to survive a night without him. Especially since they’re taking on the Warriors, who are currently 2-9 and without prominent players Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. The Lakers lineup will possibly be Danny Green, Javale McGee, Avery Bradley, Lebron James, and Kyle Kuzma filling in for Davis. Rondo, who made his season debut against the Suns and added five points, seven assists and, six rebounds in 14 minutes, has not yet been medically cleared to participate in back-to-back games, so he will be forced to sit against Golden State. On the Warriors side, Glenn Robinson, Draymond Green, Willie Cauley-Stein, Jordan Poole, D’Angelo Russell are expected to be starting.