Los Angeles lost 121-128 against a desperate Warriors team. The first sign of the Purple & Gold’s impending doom was the injury of Anthony Davis. The Lakers big man sustained an eye injury in the first quarter and returned to the locker room to get it checked. But as halftime was winding down, the team got positive confirmation that Davis wouldn’t be returning for the rest of the game.

By then, the Dubs had already worked their way up the lead, and by the end of the third quarter, Golden State was leading by 102-93. Darvin Ham opens up more about the corneal abrasion that AD sustained. “He got an elbow to the left eye and wasn’t able to see. Vision blurred. He was looking at the doctors. They were working on him from the time he left the floor and back to the training room.”

Ham further said that it shouldn’t be too much of a worry. And that they would get an update soon on his condition. Jaxson Hayes stepped in to take Davis’ place, and Coach Darvin praised him for giving it his best given the situation. He finished with a game-high 12 rebounds (tied with Green) and seven points. But there was no mistaking the difficult position it put him and the whole team in. “It changes everything,” Ham admitted.

The rotation and lineups they are accustomed to will suffer negative impacts. But more importantly, it eliminated size. GSW is notorious for going small, so having to take a 7-footer off the floor meant they had free rein at the rim. The Dubs finished with 62 points in the paint.

A post-game presser without a question about the shot-clock violation wouldn’t be complete, especially when you have the victim’s head coach on the seat.

“It is what it is”: Darvin Ham takes the Jokic stance on the shot-clock malfunction

Seeing as how the Lakers were the affected party in the whole shot-clock drama, it’s natural that Darvin Ham would have a question directed at him regarding it. But, interestingly, Ham remained diplomatic, as he accepted the situation for what it was. “The game is out of your control. The clock operators lifting his palms to the sky like, ‘computers are computers,’ so it is what it is.”

Not to mention how the whole review on LeBron James only served to disrupt the flow of the game. Ham did not fail to draw attention to the fact that the Warriors were awarded two points for a shot clock violation that wasn’t called earlier. But James’s three-pointer was taken away on review. It was simply not the Lakers’ night.

Hopefully, Anthony Davis will be available when Los Angeles will face a Trae Young-less Hawks on Monday.

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