Lakers’ Anthony Davis to play tonight against Warriors
Lakers forward Anthony Davis will play Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center.
Davis had been dealing with a sprained right thumb, an injury he sustained Saturday night when the Lakers played the Brooklyn Nets in Shenzhen, China.
Davis had an MRI exam Monday that ruled out a serious injury, but he didn’t play in the game against the Warriors at Staples Center later that night.
He practiced Tuesday and went through Wednesday morning’s shoot-around without any issues. Davis was injured during the first half of the Lakers’ game while swatting at the basketball. He had it wrapped in black tape but wasn’t sure if he would wear the tape against the Warriors.
“I felt like I was able to play and they felt I was able to play as well, so, excited to get to go tonight,” Davis said.
Davis said after the shoot-around that his thumb “feels good.”
“We didn’t do much contact stuff,” Davis said, “but we did enough where I can test it out and see how it feels, and it felt really good.”
When he last played against the Nets, Davis started at center as the Lakers went to a smaller starting lineup. In the other two games that he played, Davis started at power forward.
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“It was fine. I think we did a great job,” Davis said. “I think we got some good looks with me at the center position, especially going against a team where their bigs kind of drop back every time on defense in pick and roll, so I got a lot of great looks. We were able to play small and play a little faster and able to do some different things out of that lineup.”
In the three games he has played, Davis averaged 14.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in 18.5 minutes a game.
“We are not going to play him 45 minutes tonight,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said, “but we will use common sense.”
The Lakers’ LeBron James received more backlash Tuesday for saying the previous day that freedom of speech can lead to ‘a lot of negative.’
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