PORTLAND, Ore. — The text came from the Los Angeles Lakers about 45 minutes before they tipped off against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night.
“AD is a go,” the text said, referring to Anthony Davis playing while dealing with a sprained right thumb he suffered Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center.
Then another text from the Lakers came with 9:19 left in the second quarter that Davis was out for the rest of the game because of a stomach illness.
The Lakers went meekly the rest of the way, falling behind by 34 points in the third, their effort lacking in every way of a 105-90 loss to the Trail Blazers.
Before Davis left, he had missed four of his five shot attempts and had scored two points to go along with three rebounds.
That left the Lakers with just one of their big three, Russell Westbrook, because LeBron James was sitting on the bench with a strained abdominal.
Like the rest of the Lakers, Westbrook struggled too, scoring eight points on one-for-13 shooting and turning the ball over six times.
By the half, the Lakers were obviously not looking good, trailing the Trail Blazers 51-36.
The Lakers shot just 27.3% from the field in the first half, 20% (two for 10) from three-point range.
Carmelo Anthony started in place of Davis in the third quarter for the Lakers.
Davis had been out on the Moda Center court “testing out the thumb” before the game started, Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters.
Because he has struggled with injuries throughout his career, because he had been painted as injury-prone, Davis worked all summer to get his body right.
He missed 36 games of the NBA’s 72-game schedule last season because of calf and Achilles’ injuries. He dealt with left groin and left knee injuries during the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns.
That motivated Davis to do all he could to be available for his teammates.
“I know this year he’s very upset with how last year went and how much time he missed,” Vogel said. “So, everything that’s 50-50 whether to be in or out thus far this year, it’s been, ‘I’m playing unless I absolutely can’t play.’ He’s just not happy with how much time he missed last year. So, if he can play without major limitations, he’s going to be in there.”
Davis didn’t have the thumb taped like he did in the second half of the Thunder game after he was injured.
But he only played 7 minutes 9 seconds because of the illness.
Losing Davis meant the Lakers no longer had their big lineup available with DeAndre Jordan starting at center.
In Vogel’s view, having Davis and Jordan together still makes the Lakers competitive on defense, even while playing against Portland’s dangerous backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
“The big lineup just gives us AD on the backside,” Vogel said. “That’s the biggest thing I like about that. We’re going to have to double-team a guard on the perimeter or even in half court the way Dame sometimes commands. To have that type of length behind the defense favors us. But we’ll be hybrid like always and we’ll see some lineups with AD at the five and sometimes with him at the four.”
When the Lakers decided to go small against the Houston Rockets last week and started Davis at center, it meant Jordan had become a reserve.
He had started the first six games, came off the bench for the next two and now has started the last two.
Jordan was asked how his mental approach changes from being a starter to a reserve.
“I don’t think it can, man. I think my job is the same whether I’m coming off the bench, whether I’m starting,” Jordan said. “My job for this team is to be able to defend as best as I can and run the floor, change and alter shots, be a defensive anchor for us and get our playmakers open. And being a great veteran and a piece for this team to be able to compete.”
