If Lakers fans didn’t know how important Anthony Davis is to their team’s playoff hopes, they received an important reminder Saturday night.
The Los Angeles All-Star center suffered an eye injury late in the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors and did not play the remainder of the game.
While Davis was in the locker room and being worked over by the coaches, the Warriors dominated the paint in rolling to a 128-121 victory over the Lakers in a crucial Western Conference game.
“They missed Anthony very much. He’s a very good defender when he’s in the paint. His absence opened the scoring for us and we went to the rim a lot in the second half,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
The Lakers described Davis’ injury as an eye contusion.
The nine-time All-Star was elbowed errantly in the left eye by Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis as he drove to the basket for a layup with 2:47 left in the first quarter. Davis continued to play for the next few minutes, but his eye was swollen as he headed to the locker room. He had eight points and four rebounds.
“When you lose AD, it hurts the balance of our team,” said LeBron James, who had 40 points.
Davis, who is averaging 24.5 points and 12.3 rebounds, has missed only four games this season with hip injuries. The Lakers’ next game is Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks.
Coach Darvin Ham said Davis had blurred vision in his eyes, but had no further updates.
