Anthony Davis Suffers Back Injury As Lakers Loss To The LA Clippers 94-118, Kyle Kuzma 25 PTS

Anthony Davis Suffers Back Injury As Lakers Loss To The LA Clippers 94-118, Kyle Kuzma 25 PTS It won't mean much without playoff success, but the L.A. Clippers earned temporary bragging rights in their own city by completing the season sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Clippers won Thursday's showdown at Staples Center 118-94 and improved to 45-22 on the season with their second successive victory. Paul George led the way in a balanced effort for the team's third win in as many tries over the Lakers in 2020-21. A solid showing by Kyle Kuzma in LeBron James' absence was not enough for the Purple and Gold, who are 37-29 overall and an ugly 2-7 in their past nine games. They also lost Anthony Davis to a back injury in the first quarter and are now tied with the Portland Trail Blazers in the race to avoid the play-in tournament. Paul George, G, LAC: 24 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST Ivica Zubac, C, LAC: 14 PTS, 8 REB Kawhi Leonard, F, LAC: 15 PTS, 8 REB, 6 AST Kyle Kuzma, F, LAL: 25 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL Montrezl Harrell, C, LAL: 14 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST AD's Injury Adds Yet Another Concern for Struggling Lakers When the NBA decided there would be a play-in tournament for the Nos. 7-10 seeds in each conference this season, surely nobody thought the Lakers might be in it. After all, they are the defending champions with LeBron and Davis. Yet it's a real possibility that became more likely when head coach Frank Vogel told reporters Talen Horton-Tucker (calf) would join James (ankle) and Dennis Schroder (health and safety protocols) on the list of players sidelined for critical back-to-back games against the Clippers and Trail Blazers. That figured to put the pressure firmly on the shoulders of Davis, but things got much worse when he exited in the first quarter and was ruled out with back spasms. Without the eight-time All-Star on the floor, the Lakers couldn't keep pace and fell behind by 23 points by halftime. They looked completely lost on the defensive side, and Kuzma was the only one who found anything of a rhythm on the offensive end until the game was out of hand in the early going. Kuzma continued to play well for stretches, but the second half was essentially playing out the string on another inevitable loss. The loss, coupled with the Dallas Mavericks' win over the Brooklyn Nets, means the Lakers are one game back of Luka Doncic's squad and tied with Portland. To make matters worse, they play the Trail Blazers on Friday and may not have Davis, James, Schroder and Horton-Tucker. It is difficult to see them winning that one, which would give Portland the season tiebreaker. The defending champions just might be heading for the pressure-packed play-in tournament. So Z Nation, should the Lakers start to worry about there circumstances there in??? Comments down below 💭☑️ Like and Share my videos 👍🏼☑️ ✅ Subscribe to my channel ZSPN on YouTube ✅ Thank you all for watching ZSPN on YouTube http://youtube.com/c/ZSPNSports Check out my podcast, ZSPN , on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/zspn Like my page on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ZSPNSports/ Follow me on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/zspn_sports Follow me on Instagram: ZSPN_Sports Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3I60o3Wt-X421fEiJSjziA/join 💜GO LAKERS💛