DETROIT — Anthony Davis was unsure whether the foot injury he sustained during Monday’s loss to Detroit would linger, projecting a different tone than the times he’d suffered minor injuries in the past.
“l’ll talk to my trainer and just kind of figure out what exactly is going on,” Davis said after the Lakers’ 115-103 loss. “I’ve been managing it since this summer, honestly, and my goal for every game is to be on the floor. And I just kind of landed directly on the spot that’s been killing me. So, we’ll figure it out.”
Davis hobbled after a couple of awkward landings on his left foot, falling to the ground and forcing the Lakers to call timeout midway through the fourth quarter. Davis stayed on the court and grabbed at the back of his heel before standing up and stretching.
He was visibly frustrated, hitting the padding on the basket stanchion. But he finished the game.
Davis was unsure of the severity.
“…We’ll take it a day at a time and kind of see how it feels and where it goes,” Davis said.
He finished with 37 points and nine rebounds.
LeBron James was later asked how the Lakers would cope if Davis were to be out.
“He’s not out,” Davis said from the locker to James’ left.
Still, the possibility would leave the Lakers, already thin in the frontcourt, without much else.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know,” James said when asked about the potential impact.
Even with Davis, the Lakers have been a bad defensive team so far this season. In addition to the injury, Davis was clearly frustrated.
“We’re just two different teams right now,” he said. “One game we’re this team who showcased it can be one of the better teams in the league. Then the next, we’re this team who — I don’t even know who we are. So, we just got to be better. It’s on the starters…obviously. But we just got to be better as players to come out, execute the game plan and do what we’re supposed to do on both ends of the floor. Some halves we did it, some halves we don’t. Some quarters we do, some quarters we don’t.
“So we got to put a full 48 (minutes) together and we can’t continue to do this if we expect to do anything this season.”