Anthony Davis‘ The voice was slow but stern, criticizing his play.
His play has been at such a high level in the leading lakers As for the three-game winning streak, that even when Davis produced a double-double against the New York Knicks, it bothered him that he didn’t do more.
Davis’ 17 points and 16 rebounds weren’t enough to keep the Lakers from losing to the Knicks 112-108 Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena.
“My play. I played terrible,” Davis said. “Couldn’t get my shot: free throws, layups, everything. The boys did their work. I didn’t do my work tonight.
Davis missed 10 of 18 shots. He missed four of five free throws. He was plus-nine in the plus-minus category, yet Davis took the blame for the Lakers’ loss.
Davis said, “Everything,” when asked what he could have done better.
“I think my presence was good defensively,” he said. “Offensively, I wasn’t there. Missing free throws, layups, handles, shots. Everything offensively. Like I said, the players played well tonight. Did their job. Dennis (Schroder), DLO (DAngelo Russell) ), Austin (Reeves), Wenyan (Gabriel), Rui (Hachimura), all those guys did more than enough to help win the game. I didn’t do my part.
Schroder, for one, wasn’t about to let Davis take all the blame. Schroder’s mind had enough blame to go around.
“I mean, it’s everybody, it’s everybody in the locker room. I had two quick turnovers when I came in,” Schroder said. “It’s all over. When we lose, we lose as a team. When we win, we win as a team.
“But, Eddie, he tries to be great all the time and he’s been great 90% of the time for us. That he missed that free throw there, it happens, we’re all human and if a shot goes in We can’t control. But everything else, defensively, he still did a great job. Even on Julius Randle in the second half. So, he can’t take it to himself.
Beasley in shooting slump
It was another tough night for shooting guard Malik Beasley.
He took his first shot, which seemed to be a sign of things to come.
Instead, Beasley finished his night against the Knicks shooting four-for-12 from the field, two for eight from three-point range, for 10 points.
In his last three games, Beasley has shot 25% from the field and 21% from three-point range.
Lakers coach Darwin Hamm said, “I encourage him to keep shooting.” “I don’t care if he was 0 for 20. He’s in this league because he can put the ball in the basket. And sometimes you go through different spells. Sometimes you have bad moments. My Not all ATOs work. Not all my coverages work. But we keep fighting and piling on and trying to do what we do and keep at it so we get better and change things for the better.
On th eway
After the loss to the Knicks, the Lakers were out of play-in game position and dropped to 11th place in the Western Conference. They are tied with the Utah Jazz (ninth) and Oklahoma City (10th), each at 33–35; The tiebreaker over the Lakers is held by the Jazz and the Thunder.
But the Lakers share the same record as the 12th-seeded Pelicans, whom Los Angeles will play Tuesday night in New Orleans. The Lakers also play the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
Schroder said, “It doesn’t take every game to motivate a Western Conference team.” “I think every match we have to be motivated and ready. But that one, the next two, we have to take those.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times,
