CHICAGO — Lakers coach Frank Vogel wasn’t on the sidelines, another one of his players entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols and the team’s best defender had a bulky knee brace visible through his sweats.
And all things considered, there was good news to be celebrated.
Anthony Davis, who the Lakers lost for at least four weeks Friday night in Minnesota, detailed how things could’ve been way worse for him, how his knee popped loud enough for him to hear and how the pain built and built until he collapsed.
The prospect of the next month without Davis could seam bleak, but there are worse outcomes, and with the Lakers’ luck 31 games into this season, no one would’ve been shocked.
“Mentally, I’m fine,” Davis said before Sunday’s 115-110 loss to the Bulls. “I’m in good spirits just being around the team — obviously avoided a major injury, which has kind of got my spirits back up because I just didn’t know.”
That kind of uncertainty has been the wind in this team’s sails all season, the Lakers uncertain what kind of performance they’d deliver on a nightly basis. And just when it seemed like they might have found some threads of consistency, this road trip happened.
The Lakers started losing players to the NBA’s health and safety protocols Monday. Positive tests quickly spread into the team’s traveling party and broadcast team, the roster changing on a daily basis. Needing bodies to fill their roster, they signed veteran guard Isaiah Thomas on Friday.
With Kent Bazemore entering COVID protocols, the had to start Thomas.
“We were getting into it and now something else happened,” Davis said. “It’s our entire team, though. Like, we started playing well, start getting a rhythm with each other and then all the COVID stuff happened and then more injuries.
“So it’s not where we want to be, but we’re not in a terrible spot.”
Maybe it’s not terrible, but it certainly isn’t good.
Vogel also entered the protocols on Sunday, saying he had tested positive but was asymptomatic. Assistant David Fizdale was the team’s acting coach.
They quickly fell behind 10 to Chicago before catching fire in the second quarter, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook barreling to the rim and Carmelo Anthony and Thomas hitting shots from the outside.
And Trevor Ariza, who Vogel has called one of the keys to the Lakers’ versatility, made his season debut and showed some of the two-way proficiency that many of their role players lack.
Thanks to 37 points in the second and a defensive effort that held the Bulls to 22 in the second, the Lakers were in terrific position to steal a win in Chicago from the Bulls, who were playing their first game in more than a week since having two postponed due to their own COVID-19 outbreak.
But DeMar DeRozan scored 38 and the Bulls came up with some clutch late-game offensive rebounds to push ahead and hold the Lakers off.
James led the Lakers with 31, Anthony scored 21 and Westbrook had 20 as the Bulls swept the season series against the Lakers.
Former Lakers Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso combined for 36 points and 13 rebounds in Chicago’s win.
