The narrative surrounding Anthony Davis is that he’s brittle, soft and unwilling to play through pain. But that narrative has been disproven, and he reminded everyone of that on Tuesday.
He had exited the Los Angeles Lakers’ regular-season finale on Sunday with back spasms, but he managed to play 40 minutes on Tuesday when they defeated the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament. While he shot 6-of-16, he went 8-of-10 from the free-throw line and had 15 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Davis admitted afterward that his back was bothering him during the contest, but he’s confident he’ll be 100% for L.A.’s playoff opener on Saturday.
Anthony Davis said he was still experiencing back spasms on Tuesday but was confident with the time between now and Saturday’s Game 1, he’ll be able to get back to 100% for the start of the Denver series.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 17, 2024
He will need to be at his best because L.A. is going up against the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets to begin the playoffs. That means he will have to contend with two-time MVP Nikola Jokić, who is expected by many to win his third regular-season MVP award.
Out of a possible 84 games this season, including the in-season and play-in tournaments, Davis has appeared in 78. Officially, he played in 76 regular-season contests, which was a career-high for him.