Anthony Davis has been ruled out of tonight’s Lakers game against the Detroit Pistons with a quad contusion, as reported by Mike Trudell.
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Davis had a middling game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center last night. The Lakers locked down on defense during the second half, allowing only 52 points. Davis had a huge role in that, manning the paint against Joel Embiid and co.
Davis also had 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting for the night. But he missed 5 freebies, including 2 during the 4th quarter. Although he got the bucket that gave the Lakers a lead with 11 seconds or so remaining, he was unable to stop Tobias Harris knocking the game-winner down.
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Anthony Davis was tipped to be a contender for MVP and DPOY once again this season. But he’s been a bit underwhelming by his standards in the last few games.
Anthony Davis ruled out with quad contusion for game against Pistons
AD seemed to suffer an aggravation to his existing ankle problems last night. Banging with one of the NBA’s strongest centers in Joel Embiid can’t have been easy on his feet. One of those clashes caused a contusion to his quad, making it tough for him to feature in the second game of a back-to-back.
The Lakers big man will be sitting out for tonight’s game against the Pistons. The Lakers will once again rely on LeBron James to provide them a big scoring punch. Montrezl Harrell will be asked to step up, while Markieff Morris will be given more game time tonight.
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Kyle Kuzma also projects to absorb some minutes at the 4 position. The Lakers will likely run with Harrell at the 5 at the end of the game tonight, should it get close. This will allow them to be a small ball lineup and play on the break, harrowing the Pistons’ ballhandlers.