Anthony on LA: The Lakers seem to be holding on for dear life
With All-Star weekend done, the second half of the NBA season is back on and running at full speed.
The road to the playoffs’ tip-off in mid-May has been far from an easy one for the Los Angeles Lakers.
As mentioned in my last column, star forward Anthony Davis will be out for at least four weeks with a calf injury. Last Friday, the Lakers announced his re-evaluation in the next two weeks.
Prior to the injury, Davis was having an off-year by his standards — averaging 22.5 points per game along with 8.4 rebounds per game and 1.8 blocks per game. The 22.5 points per game are his lowest total since his second season in the league.
The Lakers have been 4-10 since the Brow was forced to leave the game against the Denver Nuggets on Valentine’s Day. Granted, the Lakers were also without outstanding guard Dennis Schroder for a week due to the NBA’s coronavirus protocols.
It was in this stretch that I noticed something odd, something that really was not prevalent last season.
Are the Lakers just going through the motions until the playoffs when they’re at full capacity?
It’s a smart, but extremely dangerous strategy that could be disastrous when May comes around. With limited fans in attendance for some teams, home court advantage is seemingly gone, which, for years, has been the biggest weapon in the playoffs.
As a result, the Lakers have been coasting through games. What made last year’s team so spectacular was their play-hard attitude basically every night during the regular season.
Last season, they were also healthy for the most part. Davis missed only 10 games, which, given his injury history, was solid. LeBron James only missed four games.
The team’s two biggest stars were almost always around in the big games that counted. They established chemistry on the court during the season’s suspension and resumption in the bubble.
The Lakers’ biggest threat last season, the Los Angeles Clippers, struggled with injuries and “load management” and failed to build continuity on the court — a failure that ultimately hurt them in the playoffs.
Right now, it seems like the same thing is happening to the Lakers.
They’ve been lethargic, taking games off and struggling to put opponents out of games. The injuries have mounted on top of an offseason that lasted just over two months. They’ve been dragging through games like a college student without a spring break.
Even with all these obstacles, the Lakers are still among the top four teams in the Western Conference and in the midst of a three-game winning streak where they’ve played some of their best basketball of the season.
The Lakers’ position in the conference and wins would be something to celebrate in some other cities, but in L.A., we only celebrate one thing: championships. Right now, the Lakers don’t seem to be playing like champions.
Yes, some nights you see the deep roster’s potential and what they can be capable of doing. Yes, it is only March. But all I’m asking for is more effort and continuity on the court.
However, it’s fair to say that none of this matters until Davis is back, especially since injuries continue to pile up.
Fan-favorite guard Alex Caruso has had an up-and-down year. He was recently sidelined with a head injury after just coming back from a neck injury. For the first 38 games, Caruso has missed the same amount of games he missed during last year’s 712-game season.
Brother of the ultimate Lakers fan-favorite Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, had been extremely durable through the season. However, recently he was added to the NBA’s coronavirus protocol list for God knows what and has missed four games as a result.
Davis, Caruso and Gasol are three enormous pieces for this team — especially Gasol, who has done an excellent job anchoring the defense while Davis has been injured.
With Gasol out, , the Lakers now have to rely on newly acquired center Damon Jones to help on the defensive end.
With five new players on the squad this season, it’s imperative that the team builds championship habits before it’s too late. However, at the end of the day, any team with Davis and LeBron can do just that.
Anthony Gharib is a sophomore writing about Los Angeles professional sports. He is also the deputy sports editor at the Daily Trojan. His column, “Anthony on LA,” runs every other Wednesday.