The Los Angeles Lakers will be facing the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night. However, Anthony Davis will not be playing.
After the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to get a huge win against the Houston Rockets. Considering how the Lakers were playing coming into the break, the win against Houston was a much-needed one.
As the Lakers look to put themselves back in the playoff picture in the Western Conference, getting wins against good teams like the Rockets is a huge boost. Now, the Lakers will have their eyes set on making it a winning streak.
On Saturday night, the Lakers will be on the road facing the New Orleans Pelicans. This will be the start of a very winnable stretch of games for the Lakers. In the next three, the Lakers play the Pelicans twice, with the Grizzlies in between. These are two of the worst teams in the conference, and the Lakers must take advantage.
In addition to the Pelicans struggling, they have already announced that Anthony Davis will be out on Saturday.
Pelicans star Anthony Davis will sit tonight’s back to back against the Los Angeles Lakers due to rest.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 23, 2019
After failing to trade Davis at the NBA Trade Deadline, this will likely be a trend we continue to see. The Pelicans are going to be very careful with Davis for the rest of the season, as they don’t want to risk injury with him heading into the summer.
For the Lakers, not having to face Davis is certainly a good thing. Davis is one of the best players in the league, and this would have been a harder game to win if he was in the lineup.
Without Davis in the lineup, the Lakers must take advantage of a team that isn’t really looking to win games. Another win for the Lakers could result in the beginning of a much-needed winning streak. The Lakers have had a lot of letdowns this season in easy games, hopefully they avoid that on Saturday.