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The Los Angeles Lakers blew out the New York Knicks 117-87 on Tuesday night, but not without suffering a scary loss that could mean a whole lot more than any result in the win column.
Anthony Davis left the game in the third quarter after taking a hard fall, and missed the rest of the night with a “sacral contusion.” The good news is that X-Rays were negative for any fractures, although it’s still unknown how much time (if any) Davis will be missing or limited moving forward.
He wasn’t the only Laker to take some hits in what was a really chippy game with some cheap shots from the Knicks. JaVale McGee took a Flagrant 1 foul around the rim from former teammate Reggie Bullock, and earlier in the game Knicks big man Bobby Portis was ejected with a Flagrant 2 for hitting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the head. Caldwell-Pope underwent evaluation for a concussion but was cleared to return, and was huge for the Lakers as they pulled away in the fourth quarter.
KCP looks no worse for wear after that 2nd Q blow to his head: he’s 3 for 4 from the field in the 4th Q, with a pair of 3’s, and has made all 3 of his triples tonight towards 15 points in 15 minutes. LAL up 96-73.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) January 8, 2020
Caldwell-Pope wasn’t the only Laker to get hot from distance. Even Dwight Howard hit a three, and the team finished 17-36 from deep, led by LeBron James. The Knicks inexplicably defended James by ducking under nearly every single ball screen the Lakers set for him, and he made them pay for that... interesting... strategy, making six of his 12 triples to finish with 31 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes despite feeling sick and being a game-time decision to even play tonight.
The Lakers will get two days off to lick their wounds and recover from what was a much more taxing win than the score would indicate. They have now won six games in a row and are 30-7 overall, and will next hit the road for a back-to-back against the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Stay tuned for more on the status of Davis and the rest of the Lakers for those games, and moving forward.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.