It has been a less than ideal start to the season for the Los Angeles Lakers and big man Anthony Davis implied the team was a bit predictable in their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. David admitted the Thunder, “knew what we were doing kind of the entire second half.”
“Yeah, I mean they knew what we were doing kind of the entire second half and their coach or Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], whoever it was, made an adjustment to put their players in the right spot and they made shots,” Davis explained during his November 4 press conference. “Shai did a good job of picking us apart and making good reads, trying to get the ball out of his hands and he made us pay for it for trying to double team.”
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Davis: ‘I Feel Like They Were Waiting for Our Coverages’
The Lakers big man admitted the Thunder were not at all surprised by the Lakers defensive scheme. Davis described the Thunder as “waiting on our coverages.”
“They made shots, defensively we were all over the place,” Davis noted. “I feel like they were waiting on our coverages, and Shai was just picking us apart whether it was his jump shot and then, towards the end, just his passing to the right guys. [For] some reason this team comes in every time and make shots against [us], 15 threes again tonight like they did the first game and there’s guys who we want shooting the ball and they made shots but nonetheless we’re still supposed to win the game.”
A.D. Is Dealing With a Sprained Thumb
Unfortunately, injuries have been the story for the Lakers to start the season, a familiar theme from the 2020-21 season. Not only did the Lakers lose to the Thunder, but Davis sustained a sprained thumb. Davis’ status is up in the air as the Lakers take on the Blazers on November 6.
“Still just [a] sprained thumb, questionable for tomorrow, no updates past that,” Vogel said of Davis during his November 5 press conference.
Anthony on James’ Absence: ‘It Ain’t Come Down to LeBron Not Being Here’
The Lakers are already without LeBron James, but veteran forward Carmelo Anthony shot down the notion that the team has an excuse to underperform.
“It ain’t come down to LeBron not being here,” Anthony noted, per Silver Screen and Roll. “We let this one go again. We shouldn’t have lost this one.”
Davis echoed Anthony’s comments adding that the Lakers are still capable of winning games without the superstar.
“He’s a big key to our team but we still got to play,” Davis said. “I don’t know how long he’s going to be out, but we have to still find ways to win basketball games. [We] can’t control him playing or not but what we control is going out there and winning basketball games with the guys that we have, and we have enough pieces to still win basketball games even though he brings a huge part to both ends of the floor of what we do. So, it’s just an adjustment period of trying to figure out new schemes and stuff like that without him for however long he’s out, but like I said, we still have enough pieces to win basketball games.”
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Anthony Davis Gets Candid on Predictable Lakers