Critics of the Los Angeles Lakers have been downplaying the team’s strong record for weeks, arguing that the Lakers haven’t played any real playoff contenders, and have inflated their standing against bad teams. On Tuesday night, the Lakers went on the road to Denver to face a 13-4 Nuggets team, and Anthony Davis led the team to a nine-point win, even on a sick day.
Davis is one of several Lakers suffering from flu-like symptoms, and he was forced to miss team activities on Wednesday morning as he tried to recover. Davis was in the starting lineup, and although his box score line of 25 points and 10 rebounds looks fairly unspectacular by his standards, it was his dominance on the defensive end that won the game for Los Angeles.
Nikola Jokic pulled the Nuggets within a single point, 97-96, from the free-throw line with 2:23 remaining, but Davis made several key solo defensive stops to preserve the Lakers’ lead.
Davis said after the game that he asked for an IV at halftime just to keep playing.
