Anthony Davis tried his best to help the Lakers to a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, but his 32 points and 11 rebounds went to waste in a seven-point loss. This was the Lakers’ fourth consecutive loss and led to AD remarking about this stretch as the down period of the season.
“It’s the NBA season. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Right now we’re in that down period …. We just got to continue to fight and continue to play hard. Play with some effort, and some energy and we’re treating Saturday as a must-win.”
Anthony Davis: "It’s the NBA season. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Right now we’re in that down period …. We just got to continue to fight and continue to play hard. Play with some effort, some energy and we’re treating Saturday as a must win."
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 22, 2023
The down period will not be allayed anytime soon as the Lakers have a very challenging slate of fixtures coming up over the next few games. They have to face the OKC Thunder on Saturday, who are coming off slaying the Clippers’ nine-game win streak. That’ll be followed up with a Christmas clash against the Boston Celtics, arguably the most important game of the season for LA so far.
They could end that stretch as a team that’s below .500, something that would hurt their chances of even staying as a top-10 team in the West. There are concerns that the schedule till the end of the year may be too challenging for the disjointed team to pick up even a single win for the rest of 2023, a scary thought for the franchise and its fans.
Anthony Davis Knows The Current Group Needs To Turn Their Fortunes Around
The Lakers are in an ideal place right now in terms of roster health. Even though LeBron James missed the game against the Wolves, which was on the second night of a back-to-back, he’s expected to be available against the Thunder. With Gabe Vincent returning to the lineup as well, there are no major injuries for LA right now. The team had previously blamed losses on poor injury luck, but it’s clear that they’re healthy right now.
Anthony Davis is aware that the Lakers cannot rest on the hope that players will be returning to the lineup from injury after getting everyone back already. There are no more hidden aces and the schedule is only getting tougher, something Davis believes the Lakers need to figure out how to overcome.
“There’s no break coming, there’s no help coming, there’s no cavalry. We got to do it within this locker room. We got everyone back. We just got to find a way to get in the win column.”
AD has been a star for the Lakers this season. Even though he has the occasional game where he’s struggling offensively, his defense has been top-notch. If the Lakers had a better record, he’d likely be among the leaders for Defensive Player of the Year. Even with the poor record, he’s in contention for the award. He’s averaging 24.9 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks this season.
The Lakers are relying on AD to not only be their primary scoring option but also their primary defender as well. That’s a heavy load for a player that’s known to struggle with his health. He’s healthy this season and will want to maximize his time on the court by leading the team to wins.
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