Anthony Davis Refuses To Blame Injury For Poor Performance Against Kings

The Sacramento Kings defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 125-110 Wednesday night, as center Domantas Sabonis led the young team with a 29-point, 16-rebound performance. Lakers star Anthony Davis matched up with Sabonis for most of the night and only managed to score nine points.

Though Davis was playing through a hip injury for the second straight night Wednesday, he did not blame the pain for his poor performance or the team’s loss.

“I’m still treating it every day,” Davis said. “Obviously, you don’t get that day to really attack it with the back-to-back. But it is what it is. I suit up, I will play. I got to be more effective. Obviously, it was still bothering me a little bit, but I still got to go out there and do my job.”

Through 12 games, the Lakers have at times thrived and struggled to earn an erratic 6-6 record. The Kings have been an especially sharp thorn in their side, beating them twice now in the past month. Before the latest defeat, however, the team was on a three-game winning streak, with two of those wins counting toward the group stage of the in-season tournament.

LeBron James has been positive about the team’s outlook this season, though he noted with urgency that the upcoming schedule is crowded.

“We have too many games that’s coming up on top of us very soon and they’re going to be flying,” James said. “This is three in four nights. We play Friday. We play Sunday. We got a lot of games coming. You learn from some of the mistakes. You learn from some of the good things. But then you move on.”

After reaching the Western Conference Final last year, Los Angeles still has James and Davis as well as a strong supporting cast featuring D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. The team has four games in the next seven days before a break over Thanksgiving.