Just when Anthony Davis was sustaining an extremely high, MVP-caliber level of play, he went down with a stress injury in his foot on Dec. 16 versus the Denver Nuggets.
Although it is reportedly possible he returns within a couple of weeks, depending on the severity of the injury, he could miss an extended amount of time, especially if it will require surgery.
Without him, especially considering he was looking like the best player in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers have been up against it, and their roster flaws have been accentuated.
It is something head coach Darvin Ham is well aware of, and he knows it will take an all-hand-on-deck effort to right the ship.
Via ESPN:
“You throw everything up against the wall and see what sticks,” Ham said. “It’s one of those types of situations. AD’s not here, not in the lineup. We’re not going to start using that as an excuse. Hell yeah, it’s a big hole in our lineup. But now, we’re pros. We’ve got to step up.”
Ham has resorted to lots of three and four-guard lineups in Davis’ absence. In fact, in Sunday’s contest against the Dallas Mavericks, he went with a lineup at one point where 6-foot-5 Austin Reaves was its tallest player.
LeBron James talked about how much of a challenge Davis’ injury is in terms of the resulting lineup and rotation changes.
“Reality is, without AD, we lose a lot of length, which we don’t have already,” James said. “So we have to make up in ways that, without AD, is very difficult, very challenging. So, I think at one point we had a lineup of I think (Austin Reaves, at 6-5) was the tallest guy on the court.
“So, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out (that Davis is sorely missed).”
Without their superstar big man, the Lakers have lost four games in a row, and they have given up 130, 134, 134 and 124 points during that skid.
They have a 13-20 record and sit in 13th place in the Western Conference. If they don’t turn things around very soon, it will become a simple matter of math. They will be too far beneath .500 and not have enough games remaining to make up the difference and reach the playoffs.
