Lakers vs. Nuggets Recap: The only thing that matters is Anthony Davis

It’s hard to feel like this means anything given that Anthony Davis left the game after re-aggravating his Achilles injury and the season is in as much doubt going forward as Davis’ status is, but the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets, 122-105, on Sunday night.

This defeat snaps the Lakers’ seven-game winning streak, and drops them to 21-7. But again, none of those things matter until the Lakers know how much time Davis is going to miss, and whether he’ll be healthy moving forward.

If there is a chance Davis can be healthy for the playoffs, then the Lakers dodged a bullet, and their seeding doesn’t really matter. If he can’t get back though — or remains hampered by this injury all season — then none of this really matters anyway. At least not really. This Lakers team is deep, sure, and they have players that can help them win some regular season games and get them to the playoffs, with or without Davis. But without Davis and co-star LeBron James both operating at full capacity, they’re not going to defend their title. They just aren’t.

So I could talk about what went wrong for the Lakers in Denver. How they still can’t hit a three, or how they continue to look a bit soft in the paint. But the only real loss they suffered on Sunday night was when Davis limped off the floor, potentially for a while, depending on how his Monday MRI goes. To pretend the scoreboard mattered even a little bit after that would do a disservice to Davis, the Lakers, and everyone reading this post.

So for now, we’ll be waiting, holding our breath until we hear more on Davis in the wake of that MRI. Until then, everything that happens on the floor is secondary.

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