Early on Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers got the bad news that Anthony Davis is expected to miss at least one month with a foot injury he sustained on Friday versus the Denver Nuggets.
Without him, the Lakers took on the Washington Wizards needing an all-hands-on-deck mindset.
They had multiple players step up offensively, which is exactly what they need while Davis is out. They built a 14-point lead at halftime, but unfortunately, their defense fell apart in the second half, as they allowed the Wizards to take a brief lead late in the fourth quarter.
With 23.1 seconds left in the game and the score tied at 117, LeBron James was working down the clock when former Laker Kyle Kuzma knocked the ball away. James recovered it, and in the ensuing scramble, he found Thomas Bryant underneath for the dunk that resulted in a 119-117 win.
The win wasn’t a work of art, but it was important in terms of stabilizing the team in the wake of Davis’ latest injury.