Anthony Davis injury leads to Lakers loss in vital game against Warriors

After losing Anthony Davis to an eye injury in the first quarter, the Lakers lost their uphill battle to the Warriors in a vital game for playoff seeding.

The effort was there to start, but losing AD and not finding consistent defense led to the Lakers losing a much-needed game against the Warriors, 128-121.

Defense was a figment of each team’s imagination Saturday, with a flurry of offense showering Los Angeles. The generosity was also soaring with both teams dishing out 20 assists in the first half.

LA’s starting five has been doing the heavy lifting offensively each night, while the bench continues to struggle with its production. LeBron gave a valiant effort with 40 points, six rebounds, nine assists, a steal, and a block. D’Angelo Russell poured in 23 points and 13 assists and Rui Hachimura had 14 points and four rebounds.

It was a game of fiery offense as both teams were immediately cooking to start. LeBron and Austin Reaves guided LA with LeBron going perfectly from the field. The Warriors jumped to a four-point lead, countered by a five-point lead by the Lakers. Klay Thompson took the wheels for the Warriors scoring a quick eight points. The Lakers managed to keep a lead to end the first, 36-30.

Into the second quarter, the LeBron and Klay show continued as both players were taking over for their respective teams. LA has been stacking up the assists lately and it was still going tonight with them having 14 midway into the quarter.

There was still no defensive effort from either team which led to trading baskets. AD was getting his eye looked at in the locker room after getting hit in the first quarter — an injury he would not return from — leading to the Warriors having an even easier time scoring. A few mistakes by LA led to the Warriors grabbing a one-point lead into halftime.

The Warriors grabbed a quick six-point lead to start the third. They decided to be the first team to play any sort of defense and it led to the Lakers looking out of sync. The Warriors’ lead was up to 12 after Steph Curry took over the quarter lighting LA up. With no AD for the rest of the game, the Lakers had to fall into the next-man-up mentality which meant LeBron had to take the wheel and steer this team into a hopeful win.

Although the Warriors had been able to gain momentum, the Lakers were able to stick around, getting whatever they wanted out of the pick-and-roll. The Warriors were up 102-93 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth began with a Warriors onslaught but the Lakers were still within striking distance. Their defense and missing AD were the two huge factors as to why they couldn’t take the lead. In what has been a consistent negative for the Warriors in the fourth, they couldn’t grab a bigger lead which kept the Lakers within reach of taking over the game.

With 1:50 left in the game, the Warriors were holding onto a seven-point lead and LeBron had started taking over for one last push to try and drag over the finish line for a win. The last minute of this quarter felt like it took 12 hours with the number of call reviews and challenges.

A 3-pointer from LeBron had been taken away amidst the chaos that would’ve cut the deficit to four. Unfortunately, it kept getting worse with the shot clock not working. Lakers PA announcer Lawrence Tanter had to narrate the shot clock time.

The Warriors hung on to win after an extremely stressful end.

Key Takeaways:

Where’s the defense? It was with AD in the locker room, but the team not being able to find a shred of defense as a team was tough.

It’s been nice to see LA not struggling offensively, but what’s the point if you can’t find defense? It may be an offensive-minded league but you still need to defend.

The Lakers’ next game is Monday against the Atlanta Hawks at 7:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.