As the calendar turned from January to February, the Los Angeles Lakers were piling up losses, as well as injuries.
Anthony Davis had missed nearly six weeks with a sprained MCL, and right after he returned, James spent time on the shelf because of a swollen knee.
On Feb. 3, the Lakers took on their crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. With James unable to play, it was up to Davis to pick up the slack.
He sure did. He put up 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field, 17 rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
After falling behind 94-78 near the end of the third quarter, Davis and Russell Westbrook led a spirited comeback that gave the Purple and Gold a chance to win.
With 12.5 seconds left, Davis converted an alley-oop dunk to give his team a one-point lead.
After Reggie Jackson scored to put the Clippers up by one, Davis put up the potential game-winning shot, but it rimmed out, preserving a 111-110 loss for the Lakers.
But without the University of Kentucky product, they wouldn’t have had any chance of even competing.
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