Lakers Rule Anthony Davis Out After Making Strong Statement

Anthony Davis is frustrated and it sounds like the Los Angeles Lakers star was planning to take out those frustrations on the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

However, Davis was ruled out for the second game of a back-to-back against the Pistons with a right quad contusion.

Davis appeared to be dealing with a knee issue against the 76ers on Wednesday but said the issue was just caused by “brush burn” from the floor.

Davis being sidelined comes after he made a walk-off declaration after the loss to Philadelphia, saying, “You’ll see tomorrow.”

That tomorrow will have to come another day. It would have been nice to see Davis look like his old self against the Sixers — the top team in the Eastern Conference. And a matchup against the 4-14 Pistons might have been just what the doctor ordered to get him back on track. However, he’ll have to wait until Saturday — if the injury is minor — to get back on the court when the Lakers take on the Celtics.

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Anthony Davis Not Worried About Struggles

Davis is struggling, but only by his lofty standards. He’s averaging 21.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 blocks — numbers many NBAers would be envious of. However, his points and rebounds per game are near career lows and his free throw percentage is 71.1, way down from the 84.6% clip he was hitting at last season.

Davis has refused to make excuses and feels his free throw struggles are just mental.

“I’m not worried about it. I usually go up there and split them,” he told reporters after the game. “I missed two tonight and then made the final two. At this point, it’s just all mental.

“Continue to draw fouls, get to the line, and have confidence in my work that I’m going to make the free throws. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make free throws and make teams pay for fouling. I haven’t been good at that this year, but it’s something I’m not too concerned about.”

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Lakers Want Anthony Davis to be More Assertive

The Lakers have been open that they’ve made it a point to keep Davis active and involved in the game.

“We want to make sure we’re playing through him as much as possible,” Lakers head coach Frank Vogel told reporters recently. “We’ve got a lot of new guys on this team, so there’s been times early in this season where myself and even AD has been trying to get other guys comfortable.

“Like I said, it’s not something we’re worried about. You just balance trying to get everybody going throughout the course of a long season. He was great tonight.”

LeBron James thinks there is still room for improvement when it comes to how active the Lakers are in getting Davis involved.

“Missed some shots that he’s accustomed to making. I think AD is in a pretty good rhythm right now and I think every game is getting better and better for him,” James said after the loss to the Sixers, in which Davis was 9 of 18 shooting. “But it’s our job to give him the ball and I thought we did a good job at times. At times, we did not.”

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