After the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves for their fourth straight defeat, Anthony Davis strongly spoke his mind.
Davis said the Lakers need to play harder and called Saturday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder a “must-win.”
“It’s the NBA season. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Right now we’re in that down period,” Davis said. “We just got to continue to fight and continue to play hard. Play with some effort, some energy and we’re treating Saturday as a must-win.”
The Lakers are 15-14 on the season. They are in 10th place in the Western Conference standings. The purple and gold are 1-5 since winning the In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers Updates
“It’s just a lot,” Davis said. “And we’re trying to figure it out with guys playing, not playing as far as rotations. Some games we might see [Jaxson Hayes] and [Christian] Wood. Some games we’re not. So, it’s just a lot.”
The Lakers put up a good fight against the Timberwolves. They only lost by seven points despite LeBron James not playing due to an ankle injury. Davis put up 31 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 38 minutes while shooting 11-of-20 from the field, 1-of-1 from 3 and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
“We got to still buckle down and find ways to get wins,” Davis said. “So after 30 [games], I think it’s still tough to assess, but we know what we can be. We’ve shown what we can be. And we’ve shown that if we don’t do the things we need to do to be successful then we’re going to continue to be on this side of our record, which is losing.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers Updates
Davis is averaging 24.3 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.6 blocks on the season for the Lakers, who have two tough games coming up. They face the Thunder on Saturday and the Boston Celtics on Christmas.
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