LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis said the chance that he will miss time with a painful foot injury that flared up in a loss to Detroit on Monday is just one of the problems facing the floundering National Basketball Association (NBA) team.
Davis is averaging a league-leading 32.6 points per game and scored 37 in Detroit, despite clearly struggling after aggravating a left foot injury in the fourth quarter.
But the holes in the Lakers defense were on full display in a 115-103 loss in Detroit, where the Pistons took control with 67 points in the first half.
Since opening the season with a three-game winning streak, the Lakers have lost three of their last four, despite outstanding offensive performances from Davis and LeBron James.
Even in a 131-125 victory over the Raptors in Toronto on Friday, the cracks were showing as the Lakers let a 26-point lead dwindle to single digits before pulling out the win.
“We’re just two different teams right now,” Davis said in Detroit.
“One game, we’re this team who showcased it can be one of the better teams in the league. Then the next, we’re this team who — I don’t even know who we are.”
“We’ve just got to be better. We’ve got to put a full 48 (minutes) together, and we can’t continue to do this if we expect to do anything this season.”
Davis’s foot injury only complicates matters. After one awkward landing he fell to the court, rubbing his foot before standing and continuing.
“I just kind of landed directly on the spot that’s been killing me,” said Davis, who said he has been “managing” the problem for months.
“We’ll take it a day at a time and kind of see how it feels and where it goes,” he said.
The Lakers play the Grizzlies in Memphis on Wednesday.