The Los Angeles Lakers' decision to rest Anthony Davis on the second night of a back-to-back — a regrettable 114-110 Lakers loss to the 17-52 Houston Rockets — was made by medical personnel. Presumably, it was in the best interest of AD, who is playing extremely well and “pain-free” while managing a complex stress injury in his foot.
Whether it was in the best interest of the Lakers' playoff hopes is TBD. (Lakers fans were not pleased!)
Health comes first, especially in regard to Davis and LeBron James, the latter of whom is just beginning to ramp up basketball activities but will miss a few more weeks. Road back-to-backs are tricky on the body. Players nursing ailments often sit out a leg in the modern NBA.
That said, the Lakers may have missed an opportunity to pocket two critical wins. The Lakers led by as many as 40 points (!) in the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday. And while the Pels closed the gap to 13 in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles expectedly took its foot off the gas, the game was never truly in doubt. Darvin Ham probably could have rested AD by halftime and lived to tell the tale. In theory, that could have allowed Davis to give the Lakers a few minutes in Houston.
“It definitely was a thought,” Ham said about pulling AD early in NOLA. “But obviously, that's a hell of a ballclub over there that has a lot of pride and they made their push. … So having to reinsert him into the game kind of nixed any delusions of grandeur.”
Ham announced that AD would miss the Rockets game shortly after the buzzer in New Orleans.
“It's just one of those things where even though he's playing pain-free, it's still an active injury. So we have to monitor it and stick to the plan, as we always have done. And just go out there with our other guys and try to get a W and finish the trip the right way.” (Welp.)
Davis was not happy about being ruled out. Just a few weeks back, he deemed every remaining game as a “must-win.”
“It's tough,” Davis said about the decision. “Especially because each game, obviously, you want to go out and play. But before I even came back, it's something the doctors and the organization discussed that they thought it would be best for me not to play back-to-backs … It's still a stress reaction. And we're doing all the right things to make sure that I'm ready to go and I still need that day break. Obviously, it sucks.”
Instead, the Lakers went with one center (Wenyen Gabriel, as Mo Bamba is out). Houston won the rebounding battle by 15, scored 10 more second-chance points, and outscored the Lakers 78-46 in the paint.
As for adding a center? Ham shot down the idea before the Rockets clash.
“You really have to be careful because you can add something that sorta throws your ecosystem out of whack, and you don’t want to do that either.”
The Lakers' management of AD seems to have changed. After the All-Star break — facing 23 games that LeBron deemed the “most important” of his career — Ham said he expected his stars to play every back-to-back down the stretch.
A week after those comments, Ham rested AD on a B2B and said the decision was “weeks” in the making. The Lakers held on for a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The inconsistent messaging is eyebrow-raising, but the medical staff (whether it's AD/Klutch's team or the Lakers making the call) could simply be amending their approach as his foot injury evolves. Or, perhaps the “immaculate vibes” the new-look Lakers have ridden since the deadline alleviated some pressure.
Either way, the Lakers (34-36) stay as the No. 10 seed after the Rockets loss — just half a game ahead of the Pelicans and Utah Jazz.
Davis will be back on Friday against the Dallas Mavericks as the Lakers begin a crucial five-game home stand. Conveniently, the Lakers face arguably the easiest schedule in basketball and won't play a back-t0-back until April 4-5.
“We’re running out of time,” said Jarred Vanderbilt. “We got what, 12 games left? We have no more freebies. We never had none to begin with. But we need all these games. We need to win as much as possible, especially ones like tonight against teams that aren’t even fighting for playoff positions, especially Western Conference teams. We need to win those games.”
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