Look out NBA, the Lakers are rolling again, and they still have a way to go until Anthony Davis returns after being sidelined for over a month with a strained calf after going down on Valentine’s Day against the Denver Nuggets.
L.A. has won four in a row and are 6-2 in their last eight contests. Therefore, it seems as though they’ve learned on the fly how to play quality basketball enough to get back to their winning ways without the eight-time All-Star.
After losing the big man, the Lakers went 1-4 looking like a shell of their championship selves. In that stretch they averaged 103.4 PPG (27th), 22.4 APG (21st), 42 RPG (20th) and 30.9% 3FG (27th).
“Obviously we’ve all got to do a better job, in our own individual self that will carry on to the team,” said LeBron James. “We just hit a rough patch. It happens throughout the course of a season. You don’t want it to happen but when it does, I think it defines character…but this won’t define who we will be for the rest of this season and for the long haul, that’s for sure.”
Thankfully for the Lakers, LeBron was right.
Heading into their most recent game, a 116-105 win over the Charlotte Hornets, they’ve been able to turn things around. Before knocking off the Hornets, over a seven-game stretch, the Lake Show averaged 116.1 PPG (10th), 26.4 APG (9th), 45.7 RPG (7th) and 37.7% 3FG (13th).
Not to mention this is despite the disheartening news that broke in the beginning of the week that Davis will be out at least another three weeks. The Lakers are exercising precaution in hopes that AD will be ready to go at full speed when it matters most, in the postseason.
Currently the Lakers are 28-13, and sit at second in the West standings.
Image: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
