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The Los Angeles Lakers finally have their stars back, but they're clearly still not back to full strength. Big man Anthony Davis has been back for the last five games now but even he admitted he's still in the process of ramping things up.
Davis revealed his current health status, via Lakers reporter Mike Trudell:
AD isn’t back to 100%, but he said he feels like he’s “starting to get my quickness back a little bit on defense,” as witnessed in the 2nd Q (4 blocks), and his rhythm on offense in spots (12 3rd Q points).
Added that the games are still feeling like practices right now.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 1, 2021
The Lakers All-Star started off slow in his return, a back-to-back set against the Dallas Mavericks. In those two contests, he only made seven field goals out of 29 shot attempts – good for just 24.1%.
The good news is that the big man has made strides in his last three contests. Davis has averages 22.0 points per game on an efficient 50% shooting from the field for the Lakers
But the biggest jump does seem to be in his defensive activity. In his first two, he recorded just one block and one steal in total. In the following three, he's upped that to 3.0 blocks per game and one steal, including a five block outing against the Sacramento Kings.
Despite both Davis and superstar partner LeBron James back in the fold, the Lakers haven't piled on the wins as of late. They've lost five of their last six games, including the brutal loss to the De'Aaron Fox-less Kings in their last outing.
If you ask Davis himself though, the growing pains aren't anything to worry about. Better for the Lakers to get these losses out of their system now just to get themselves back in shape once the postseason rolls around.
Davis said he’d “rather go through it now in the regular season” so they are “back adjusted to one another and rolling” in the postseason, even though these losses have been frustrating.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 1, 2021
