Brilliant against Portland (30 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks in 41 minutes) then against Memphis (19 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 blocks in 27 minutes), Anthony Davis suffered against Sacramento. .
Back-to-back, the interior seemed to slow down against the Kings of Domantas Sabonis, with 9 points on 3/9 shooting, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks and 5 lost balls in 35 minutes. Accustomed to physical problems since his arrival in the NBA, Anthony Davis admits this time to being disturbed by stiffness in his left hip.
“But I just played badly” he tries to dismiss. “I’m not going to blame it on anything…I just missed some shots. I just played like shit tonight. It’s that simple “.
Even if he does not want to blame his performance on his creaking hip, Anthony Davis confirms that this injury, contracted against the Heat and which forced him to miss the match against the Rockets, has been bothering him for around ten years. days. And if he can manage it with upstream care, it is more difficult during back-to-backs.
Not spared by Darvin Ham
“I continue to deal with it every day. It is obvious that we do not have the possibility of really devoting ourselves to it back-to-back. But it’s like that. I put on my jersey, I play. I need to be more efficient. Obviously, it still bothered me a little, but I still have to go out on the field and do my job. »
Especially since it’s not over since the Lakers are in a dense sequence of three games in four days, with a match in Portland tomorrow evening.
“We have too many matches waiting for us very soon, with planes” recalls LeBron James. “Three games in four nights. We play Friday. We play on Sunday. We have a lot of matches coming up. We learn from our mistakes. We learn some good things. But then we move forward. »
Anthony Davis also assures that he will play against the Blazers, while Darvin Ham did not spare him.
While the Kings had a 26-point lead (106-80) at the very start of the fourth quarter, the coach left Anthony Davis and the starters on the floor to attempt a comeback.
“I told them at the break, at the end of the third quarter: ‘We have four or five minutes to see if we can do something on the gap, minimize the deficit’”detailed the coach. “We changed our defense to a zone, which helped slow them down a little bit, and we were able to put up shots… The five guys that finished the game for us, you have to give them a chance to see what they can do.
