{"id":106648,"date":"2024-11-12T19:55:39","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T00:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=106648"},"modified":"2024-11-12T19:55:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T00:55:39","slug":"lakers-mvp-seeker-evades-missing-time-from-recent-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/12\/lakers-mvp-seeker-evades-missing-time-from-recent-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers MVP Seeker Evades Missing Time From Recent Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Los Angeles\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/12\/klay-thompson-did-not-join-los-angeles-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Lakers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> MVP hopeful\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Anthony Davis<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> suffered yet another blow to the face in Sunday&#8217;s game against the Toronto Raptors. AD left the game after getting poked in the eye\u2014an all-too-familiar scenario for the 9x All-Star. After seeing an ophthalmologist on Monday for an eye examination, Tuesday brought about some good news concerning Davis&#8217; availability this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Lakers MVP Seeker Evades Missing Time From Recent Injury<\/h2>\n<h3>No Sitting Out for LA Lakers MVP Candidate Anthony Davis<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">You have to understand why AD is adamantly against wearing goggles. Although they offer protection, they&#8217;re not the most flattering accessory an NBA basketball player can wear. Perhaps he&#8217;s not concerned with that, though. However, if he has any say in the matter, he will not cave into wearing any protective eyewear.\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/lW-TdgAUqSs\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Davis spoke with reporters<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0following the Lakers Tuesday practice.\u00a0He <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was asked<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> about wearing goggles;\u00a0he responded simply,<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> &#8216;No.<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;\u00a0He\u00a0is also unsure\u00a0if this latest eye injury is another corneal abrasion. Nevertheless, he&#8217;s ready to play on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;A couple of scratches in my eye. As far as the medical term and all that, I&#8217;m not 100% sure, but I&#8217;m cleared to play.&#8221; Regarding goggles, Davis elaborated, &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to&#8230;and the doctor said I didn&#8217;t have to. Now if it gets to a point where the doctor orders are to wear them and I need to wear them, then of course I will&#8230;&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Well, that pretty much sums it up. Davis will avoid goggles at all costs unless instructed by his doctor. But that&#8217;s hardly the important point here. The critical point is that he&#8217;s cleared to play, and the Lakers need Davis on the floor as much as humanly possible.<\/p>\n<h3>Back On Track with AD Leading the Way<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Lakers had a forgettable 1-4 road trip. They fell to the Suns,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/12\/cavaliers-bounce-back-star-earns-eastern-conference-award\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cavaliers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, Pistons, and Grizzlies. Since returning home, they have followed up with two consecutive wins against the 76ers and the Raptors. Sitting at 6-4, the Lakers are playing relatively well under\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/redicjj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">JJ Redick<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, who has implemented a revamped offense but is still in the figuring-it-out stages on defense. The Lakers defense has resembled a Jekyll and Hyde dynamic when it comes to playing on the road as opposed to playing on their home floor. They have struggled to defend the perimeter. It was a <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">major<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> crux for them all last season, and it showed its ugly head on the road trip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Since returning to LA, Redick made a significant roster adjustment, which has appeared to improve the team&#8217;s overall play.\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reddica01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cam Reddish<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> took\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/russeda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">D&#8217;Angelo Russell<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;s place in the starting lineup for defensive-related reasons. Any roster changes the Lakers implement are secondary to how Davis plays, though. Their season rests on his availability and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">LeBron James<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. AD&#8217;s MVP-like numbers can&#8217;t hurt, either. If an early-season MVP favorite is allowed just four weeks in, it&#8217;s Davis.\u00a0What he doesn&#8217;t need are any more fingers, knuckles, elbows, or any other extension of the arm to his face from here on out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles\u00a0Lakers MVP hopeful\u00a0Anthony Davis suffered yet another blow to the face in Sunday&#8217;s game against the Toronto Raptors. AD left the game after getting poked in the eye\u2014an all-too-familiar scenario for the 9x All-Star. After seeing an ophthalmologist on Monday for an eye examination, Tuesday brought about some good news concerning Davis&#8217; availability this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":106652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62],"tags":[240,1683,307,2279,38],"class_list":["post-106648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-cam-reddish","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}