CHICAGO - A horrific fall. A loud thud. A superstar in distress.
As Anthony Davis sprawled on the floor, wincing in pain, the Staples Center crowd hushed into silence yesterday. Sadness lingered like a funeral march, and for a few, tense moments the Lakers turned purple and doomed.
Laker nation would eventually heave a collective sigh of relief after an X-ray and MRI confirmed no permanent damage. Shuddering at the thought of a lost season, many fans were left wondering what if?
But the more pointed question to ask is this: Why was Davis still playing with 2:45 left in third quarter and his team up 19 against a Knicks team that went on to lose by 30?
Maybe the Lakers and head coach Frank Vogel forgot that AD tends to break like peanut brittle. At age 26, there's no need to worry about the elite power forward's work load. But risk management should be a giant concern.
In his seven years in New Orleans, Davis missed 108 regular season games. The six-time All-Star had more sprains and strains than an MMA fighter.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune listed some of the injuries involving "a concussion, left ankle sprain, knee soreness, a chest contusion, left toe sprain, Abductor strain, right shoulder sprain, fractured hand, back spasms, flu-like illness, right hip contusion, left shoulder soreness, bruised lower back."
As you flinch through this detailed injury report, you've got to wonder what was the point of having him out there on a game that was already handily won?
If Vogel and his coaching staff couldn't trust their reserves to protect a 19-point lead against a semi-pro Knicks team that has only 10 wins in 38 starts and is 5-16 away from home, what does that say about the Lakers bench?
Davis had already logged 28 minutes at the time of the incident. He should have been iced by then and allowed Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee to get more of the reps and action instead.
Life is soaked with aches and pains. Most of them are unavoidable, destined by fate. But the scare Anthony Davis went through shouldn't have happened if the Lakers had only exercised the vigilance required when dealing with an injury prone player.
DR. JAMES. I know LeBron James is a jack of all trades, A triple-double machine, actor, producer, family man and philanthropist. I didn't know he was also a criminal psychologist and budding psychic.
In the same game that saw Davis flirt with getting hurt, another mishap occurred where Knicks forward Bobby Portis was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul when he made contact with the head of Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Portis quickly apologized and said "my intention was never to hurt anybody." The aggrieved party, KCP, told ESPN that he thought Portis made an "honest defensive attempt."
Despite all that, Dr. LeBron James concluded that Portis had harmful intent.
"It was dirty," he told reporters. "There was no play on the ball (by Portis)."
I consider LeBron as a respected authority when it comes to flopping and crying over referees' calls. But given how he botched "The Decision," I wouldn't trust him making a judgement on the intent that he believed was engendered in Portis' mind.
Sorry my dear king, you seem to laughably confuse reckless with malicious.
Here's more. LeBron added: "I saw the way he was chasing KCP. And then the wind up. I saw that play happening, before it actually happened."
Wow. LeBron is an extra large man at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, But who knew he was also a medium?
Now I'm curious if LeBron's blurry crystal ball can see the Clippers winning the West in June.
While Portis and KCP quickly moved on from the mishap, LeBron stayed for a while and wanted his opinions heard.
Well, who can blame the guy? Apparently, Dr. James, seer of the future, loves the attention the way we love popcorn in a good movie.
PREGNANT PAUSE. Per NBA rules, the Lakers, effective the other day, can sign Anthony Davis to a four-year contract extension worth $146 million.
Even though the Lakers understood that Davis would decline it, they still had to make the offer. Not doing so would have been executive malpractice.
Davis' motive to say "no" was simple. He becomes a free agent in July and will be eligible for a max contract worth five years and $202 million.
Given what happened to the misfortunes that visited DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas before signing monsters deals that were due to them, Davis probably saw all that cash flash briefly before his eyes when he landed badly last night.
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