Dennis Schroder sprained his ankle in the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this month but that hasn’t stopped the German from getting onto the court.
Schroder stated he was willing to play through injury for the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis was full of praise for his teammate for it.
“There’s a lot of pressure on him right now,” Davis said. “He’s our primary ball-handler, we’re missing our two (ball-handlers) Bron (LeBron James) and Dlo (D’Angelo Russell), guys are trying to pick him up full court, but he’s finding a way to navigate it. I’m not sure if his ankle’s still bothering him or not, but he’s very tough… He knows what’s at stake. He wants to get to the playoffs. He wants to win, so by any means, he’s going to go out there and give it a go… Hats off to him. He’s been a huge part for us just the entire season.”
Schroder didn’t have a great night statistically, as he finished with 11 points, 6 assists, and a steal in the win over the Golden State Warriors, but just him being out there is huge for the Lakers. With LeBron James out for a few weeks and D’Angelo Russell being day-to-day due to an ankle sprain of his own, the team needs Schroder to play through the pain and he’s doing just that.
It has been a solid bounce-back season for the German in all, as he is averaging 12.5 PPG, 4.6 APG, and 2.5 RPG and has shown he can still be a starting-caliber player in the NBA. The Lakers do need Russell to get back soon though and perhaps he can take some inspiration from his teammate. A Lakers insider gave a troubling update on the guard, however, claiming that Russell didn’t look anywhere close to being ready for action on Sunday, which makes you think he might not be available for the next few games either.
Anthony Davis Came Up Big For The Lakers
While he gave Schroder props here, the biggest reason why the Lakers came away with a win here was Davis himself. He finished the night with a game-high 39 points to go with 8 rebounds and 6 assists to snap the Warriors’ 5-game winning streak.
A lot of the pressure is on Davis to deliver in LeBron’s absence and he did that here. His play for the rest of this season is going to determine if the Lakers will make the playoffs and at least the early signs are good. L.A. improved to 31-34 with this win and another one next time out could see them get into the final play-in spot.
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