Life without Anthony Davis resumes for the Lakers | NBA

For the Lakers, the home stretch of the regular season will first be without Anthony Davis.

Victim of a sprained right foot against the Jazz, just before the All-Star Weekend break, the 28-year-old interior will logically not return until the last week of March, forcing his team to hold the shock in his absence.

“Fortunately,” the California franchise has already been able to experience life without “AD” this season. Absent for five weeks between mid-December and the end of January, for a sprained left knee, the 2020 champion had seen his teammates win 7 of their 17 games played over this period.

Classic configuration or “small ball” configuration?

To limit the breakage, Frank Vogel had relied most of the time on a five “small ball”, with LeBron James regularly used at the pivot position, in favor of Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan.

Depending on the opponents, this formula had paid off but, over time, it had also shown its limits. Hence the need for the Los Angeles coach to have to find the right balance at this level.

” We have studied the videos and statistics of this period without Anthony a lot [Davis]what worked and what didn’t“, explainedhe, without wanting to reveal his cards too much. ” We are comfortable with certain things and obviously we learned a lot of lessons from this period. But hopefully we can be even better. There are positives to take away from this ‘small ball’ and the use of LeBron [James] as a pivot. It remains to be seen if we will use this configuration full time, or if we will use it sparingly. But we will necessarily look at this period to determine in which direction we will go. “

Currently badly embarked in the classification in the West (9th, only a game and a half from 8th, but already six and a half games from 6th), and what is more, benefiting from a negative balance sheet (27 wins – 31 losses), the Lakers may have to trust Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan a little more, to prevent LeBron James – meanwhile diminished – from burning out unnecessarily.

” We’re going to need them more, much more than when [Anthony Davis] took the majority of minutes at center “, estimated Frank Vogel, who will also have to decide who will accompany Russell Westbrook on the outside, among Malik Monk, Trevor Ariza, Avery Bradley, Stanley Johnson or even Austin Reaves.

Coming hard for the playoffs

Never the last when it comes to encouraging or advising his teammates, both in training and in matches, Anthony Davis was also present this Thursday afternoon, for the resumption of the Lakers.

” He was present, yes. He was moving without crutches, but the road will be long for him “, nevertheless specified Frank Vogel, so as to immediately calm those who imagine the former Pelicans player replaying earlier than expected.

Because, in the best of all worlds, the Lakers hope to be able to count on Anthony Davis in just one month, to then take advantage of the last two weeks of competition to gain momentum. With, if possible, a group finally complete…

” Every game is going to count and we obviously want to climb as high in the standings as possible. But the most important thing of all will be to play our best basketball in the end and reach our full potential right in the playoffs. “, concluded Frank Vogel, probably aware that a fresh and 100% “AD” can do damage in “postseason”, as in the “bubble” of Orlando…