Back in the venue where the Los Angeles Lakers defied the odds last spring to start their playoff run by upsetting the No. 2-seeded Grizzlies in the first round as the No. 7 seed, Anthony Davis expresses confidence in his team’s chances once again.
Davis missed most of the Lakers’ past two games — losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors — after getting hit in the face in the first quarter against Minnesota, which led to a headache and nausea.
However, he now says he feels “phenomenal” and remains optimistic about the Lakers, who currently hold 10th place in the Western Conference with two games left in the regular season.
“I think we’re in a great place,” Davis said after the shootaround Friday morning ahead of the Grizzlies game. “The two games that we lost, I played a quarter and then LeBron [James] didn’t play one. So there’s nothing we can really do about that now.
Anthony Davis (Via NBA/Twitter)
Our job is to focus on these next two — the game tonight and then on Sunday against New Orleans — and then just kind of see what happens, where we stand after that. And then go win basketball games.”
“At the end of the day, no matter where you are in the standings, you still have to win. For us, it’s about taking it one game at a time. Whether that’s 10th place, ninth place, eighth, no matter where you are.
You can be the first seed, you still have to win basketball games. So that’s our mindset. No matter where we are, we just got to win.”
Davis is listed as probable for the Grizzlies game but plans to play.
The Lakers big man arrived at the arena on Tuesday intending to play against the Warriors but experienced a headache and wave of nausea, causing him to vomit and go home. He continued to rest on Wednesday and began to feel better on Thursday, sources said.
Anthony Davis (Via NBA/Twitter)
The Lakers are 45-35, tied with the No. 8 Sacramento Kings and No. 9 Warriors, but both of those teams hold the tiebreaker over Los Angeles based on their head-to-head matchups.
The Lakers are 2-1 against both the Grizzlies and the Pelicans.
The Kings host the No. 7 Phoenix Suns on Friday and finish at home against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. The Warriors host the Pelicans on Friday and finish at home against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves mentioned he spent Thursday night watching the Pelicans’ game against the Kings and is aware of the seeding shuffle happening nightly in the back end of the West’s playoff bracket.
“We just got to control what we can and hope everything shakes out after that in our favor,” Reaves said.
