On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers made light work of the Toronto Raptors, beating them 128-111 at the Scotiabank Arena to keep their hopes of climbing above ninth place in the Western Conference alive.
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Playing on the back end of a back-to-back is infamously difficult, something the Lakers will have to do as they play the Washington Wizards as soon as tomorrow. However, when he spoke on the matter in the post-match press conference, Anthony Davis announced that he is ready to be as aggressive as possible in Washington, per Spectrum SportsNet.
“[Mentality will be the] same. [Come] off the rebound. Dominate in the post. If there are jumpers, shoot it. Didn’t shoot them well tonight, but have been shooting it well of late. Just try to establish a dominant presence in the post, on the glass on both ends and give my team some second chance opportunities.”
Davis’ form has been impeccable off late. He has averaged 27.8 points, 16 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1,6 blocks per game in his last five outings per StatMuse, and has even led the Lakers to win 7 of their last 10 games. Now, LA will hope Davis can continue his magisterial form against their former star Kyle Kuzma, and the Wizards.
Lakers quest for seventh spot in the Western Conference standings
After months of inconsistency, the Lakers have finally found their footing in the home stretch of their regular season schedule. They’ve won six of their last seven games and have closed the gap to the seventh-placed Phoenix Suns to 1.5 games. The Suns and the eighth-placed Sacramento Kings have brutal schedules and will face each other in their penultimate games of the regular season.
The Lakers also have a relatively tough fixture list but pales in comparison to the Suns and Kings’ remaining games. LA can realistically finish seventh in the Western Conference standings, giving them two opportunities at the Crypto.com Arena to secure a spot in the playoffs. Anthony Davis and the Lakers will need help from their peers to climb in the standings, but they’ll also have to win most if not all of their remaining six fixtures to have a realistic chance of finishing seventh.
With less than two weeks left in the regular season, there’s still all to play for most of the teams in the league. The Lakers missing out on a playoff spot one year after making it to the Western Conference Finals would be an unfathomable outcome. However, their destiny remains in their hands.
