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Dave McMenamin, ESPN writer
DETROIT–The Los Angeles Lakers‘A perfect start to the season with a 3-0 already seems like a long time ago.
on Monday 115-103 defeat toward Detroit Pistons left Los Angeles at 4-3 overall and 1-3 on its five-game road trip. To make matters worse, Anthony Daviswho scored 37 against Detroit to increase his leading average to 32.6 points per game, was examined after aggravating a left foot injury in the fourth quarter.
“I’ll talk to my coach and find out exactly what’s going on,” Davis said after the game. “Honestly, I’ve been handling it since this summer, and my goal for every game is to be on the court. And I landed right in the spot that was killing me. So we’ll figure it out.”
Davis has not been ruled out for the Lakers game in the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday to conclude the trip, sources told ESPN. However, those sources warned, since the foot problem affected the All-Star big man from the end of last season until the Paris Olympics, it will be a day-to-day situation.
Davis caught an inbound pass from LeBron James score with 4:46 left in Monday’s game to tie Los Angeles, which trailed by as many as 20 in the first half, within 103-96. But the cube had consequences. When Davis planted his foot after jumping to catch the pass, discomfort set in and he grimaced as he returned to the field on defense.
The Lakers called a timeout 20 seconds later when James collected the rebound on a Tobias Harris he missed, and Davis immediately fell to the ground, clutching the back of his left foot near the heel before receiving medical attention from his athletic trainer, Jon Ishop. Davis stayed in the game and scored on a James dunk on the next possession to cut Detroit’s lead to five points with 4:10 left, but the Pistons finished the game on a 12-5 run from there to close things out. . .
James, who finished with 20 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds while playing a season-high 40 minutes, was asked what Davis’ potential absence could mean for Los Angeles.
“I don’t know,” James said. “I’m going second by second.”
As a reporter continued, Davis, who was standing next to where James was sitting, intervened to say, “He’s not out,” referring to himself.
James, listening to Davis, decided not to consider the hypothesis.
“I don’t play the ‘if’ game,” James said. “We’ll go by what AD says and see how he feels over the next few days and go from there. But it doesn’t take a genius to know that. [the impact] whether AD is in or out. Come on.”
While Davis’ status could be in question, he made his opinion of his team’s recent play very clear.
“Right now we’re just two different teams,” Davis said. “One game, we’re this team that showed we can be one of the best teams in the league. Then the next, we’re this team that… I don’t even know who we are. So we just managed to be better.
“We have to put a total of 48 [minutes] together, and we can’t continue doing this if we hope to do anything this season.”
Since the second half of Los Angeles’ victory in the Toronto Raptors On Friday during the first half in Detroit, the Lakers were outscored 141-108 by two teams that failed to make the playoffs last season. It’s the latest pause in a disappointing trip that began with an Oct. 28 loss against the phoenix suns after Los Angeles failed to protect an 18-point lead.
Losing to the Suns caused several players to declare their team’s goal of not losing twice in a row all season, only for the Lakers to lose the next game, against the Cleveland Knights. After that loss, Davis called the Toronto, Detroit and Memphis games “must win,” another goal missed by this Lakers team trying to find its footing.
“We’re all disappointed,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said when asked about his team’s behavior after Monday’s outing. “We are all disappointed.”
