Your Los Angeles Lakers are 1-4 since All-NBA big man Anthony Davis has been on the shelf with his latest illness, this time a right foot stress injury.
The most glaring issue for the team (although there are many) has been defense. In those four straight losses, the now-13-20 Lakers are surrendering an average of 130.5 points on a given night.
Reserve shooting guard Austin Reaves spoke with gathered reporters after LA’s 134-130 Friday night defeat to the Charlotte Hornets, the closest of the team’s four straight defeats in this recent stretch (and also the most embarrassing of those defeats, given that Charlotte is 9- 25 this year). Reaves discussed more broadly the team’s struggles with Davis out, and focused on how the defense in particular let them down.
“It comes with sports. You obviously never want to see one of your teammates in the situation AD’s in,” Reaves said. “But you gotta figure it out.”
“Obviously it’s always frustrating losing,” Reaves acknowledged. “Nobody likes to lose, nobody wants to lose, but in sports you win some, you lose some. The great thing about the NBA is that you play a lot of games.”
“I think when things are going bad we gotta figure out a way to stop the bleeding and that’s on us as players, we gotta figure it out as the game’s going on.”
Los Angeles has a chance for redemption tonight against the Orlando Magic, in a game already in progress.
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