Sunday night was a tough one for the Los Angeles Lakers as they missed out on a golden opportunity to improve their seeding in the NBA Play-In Tournament. With the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans playing against each other, the Lakers were guaranteed to make up some distance on one of the teams had they defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, it was not in the cards. The Timberwolves defeated them 127-117, but the game wasn’t the biggest loss for Los Angeles. Their biggest loss was Anthony Davis, who re-aggravated his left eye injury and did not return to the court after the first quarter.
While securing an offensive rebound and putback, Davis was inadvertently hit in the face by Kyle Anderson. He went to the floor instantly and covered his face with his hands. Davis went to the locker room to be evaluated and was eventually ruled out for the game, leaving the arena before talking to reporters.
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Anthony Davis & Los Angeles Lakers Updates
It was a brutal blow for the Lakers, who were leading 35-30 at the time of Davis’ exiting. Minnesota would take full advantage of his absence, blowing Los Angeles out in the second quarter 46-27.
Along with Davis leaving the game early, the Lakers were also without LeBron James, who was sidelined with flu-like symptoms. Without their two superstars in the mix, Los Angeles was unable to keep up.
“He’s extremely valuable,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of Davis. “Everyone around here knows that. Everything he brings on both sides of the ball, it’s tough. Already being without Bron and seeing him go out, it’s tough. But my hat’s off to our guys. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves. They kept competing all the way through.”
However, there were some positive updates provided on Davis. There is optimism that he will be able to get back on the court Tuesday night when the Lakers face off against the Golden State Warriors in a huge matchup.
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Anthony Davis & Los Angeles Lakers Updates
Los Angeles is currently in ninth place, 1.5 games ahead of the Warriors. Whoever wins the matchup on Tuesday will be in the driver’s seat for the ninth seed and a home game in the first round of the NBA Play-In Tournament.
It was against the Warriors that Davis’ eye injury originally occurred. He suffered a corneal abrasion to his left eye during a 128-121 loss on March 16th. Davis was struck in a similar fashion by Trayce Jackson-Davis and had to leave the game early, requiring assistance as his vision was impaired.
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