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Avery Bradley might not be on the court right now for the Los Angeles Lakers, but he’s surely there in spirit.
The Lakers have what they call the “Avery Challenge,” where the team attempts to have the best defensive rating in the league. They’ve played a dozen games without Avery — a notoriously stingy defender — sliding from No. 1 to a still very respectable third.
“Ever since Avery went out, our defense took a hit a little bit,” Lakers star Anthony Davis told reporters after the team’s 136-113 win against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Lakers have allowed opponents to score 99.3 points per 100 possessions and have a defensive rating of 102.8.
“We want to go out there and be the best team,” Davis said. “We want to go out there winning each quarter. We want to be out there diving on the floor. We want to win in hustle points. We want to win in rebounding. All the little things. If we continue to do that we’ll be fine.”
Avery Bradley Injury: When Will Guard Return to Lakers Lineup?
Bradley has missed double-digit games with a hairline fracture in his right leg. He played through the injury for a few games with it initially being referred to as a bruise, later learning of the fracture.
While he’s not quite ready to return to the lineup, Bradley has been cleared for “basketball progression” before the Lakers’ latest three-game road trip and will be reevaluated following their return. He looked good in some pregame on-court work earlier this week.
Lakers Continue Tear on Road Trip, Go 3-0
The Lakers shut down a lot of the doubters, taking out three Western Conference contenders in the Jazz, Blazers and Nuggets in one road trip — all in convincing fashion.
Lakers veteran Jared Dudley called out the Lakers’ doubters after they quieted the Jazz with a 20-plus point victory.
Lakers star LeBron James was asked about the comments from Dudley and could only laugh.
“Duds said that?” James told The Athletic. “I didn’t see it. We wanted to play well on this road trip and we did that.”
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel echoed those sentiments after the Lakers stymied the Blazers.
“This team was in the conference finals last year,” Vogel said. “It seems like we’re facing that every night. So it’s just a little bit of a litmus test about where we are as a team. We’ve had success against teams with lesser records and we’re off to a good start against some of the better teams as well.”
Davis understands it’s something that comes with the territory of being one of the best teams in the league at 20-3 and they need to expect the best from their opponents every night.
“When you’re the No. 1 team in the league, people are going to find a way to come out and shoot a higher field-goal percentage than what they normally shoot, find ways to make plays, to get stops, play harder and we got to embrace that,” Davis said.
The Lakers host the Timberwolves on Sunday but then hit the road for a five-game Eastern Conference swing, starting with the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
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