Why Dennis Schroder says Anthony Davis is not at fault for the loss
Anthony Davis’ voice was low but stern as he critiqued his playing.
His game was at such a high level, leading the Lakers to a three-game winning streak, that it bothered him that he didn’t do more, even when Davis hit a double-double against the New York Knicks.
Davis’ 17 points and 16 rebounds weren’t enough to keep the Lakers from losing to the Knicks 112-108 Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“My game. I played horribly,” Davis said. “Couldn’t find my shot: free throws, layups, everything. The guys did their job. I didn’t do my job tonight.”
Davis missed 10 of 18 shots. He missed four out of five free throws. He was a plus-nine in the plus-minus category, but Davis still bore the blame for the Lakers’ loss.
Davis said “everything” when asked what he could have done better.
“I think I had a good presence defensively,” he said. “I wasn’t there offensively. Missing free throws, layups, the grip, the shots. All offensive. Like I said, the boys played well tonight. Did their job. Dennis [Schroder]DLo [D’Angelo Russell]austin [Reaves]Wenyen [Gabriel]Rui [Hachimura], all these guys did more than enough to win the game. I haven’t done my part.”
Schroder, for example, wouldn’t let Davis take all the blame. In Schröder’s eyes there was enough guilt to go around.
“I mean it’s everyone, it’s everyone in this locker room. When I came in, I had two quick turnovers,” said Schröder. “It’s about everyone. If we lose, we lose as a team. When we win, we win as a team.
“But, AD, he’s always trying to be great and he’s been great to us 90% of the time. That he missed free throws there, that happens, we’re all human and we can’t control whether a shot comes in. But everything else, defensively, he still did great. Also in the second half on Julius Randle. So he can’t put it on himself.”
Beasley in the turning burglary
It was another tough night for shooting guard Malik Beasley.
He took his first shot, which seemed to bode well for the future.
Instead, Beasley ended his night against the Knicks with a four-for-12 shooting from the field, two for eight from three-point range for 10 points.
In his last three games, Beasley has shot 25% from the field and 21% from three-point range.
“I encourage him to keep shooting,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham. “I don’t care if he was 0 for 20. He’s in this league because he can put the ball in the basket. And sometimes you go through different spells. Sometimes you have bad moments. All my ATOs [after-timeout plays] don’t work. All my covers don’t work. But we keep fighting and piling on and trying to do what we do and keep pushing ourselves so we can get better and things can work out for the better.”
Traveling
After losing to the Knicks, the Lakers fell out of position for the play-in game and finished 11th in the Western Conference. They are level on points with the Utah Jazz (9th) and Oklahoma City (10th), 33-35 each; Jazz and Thunder own the tiebreaker over the Lakers.
But the Lakers also have the same record as the 12th Pelicans, who Los Angeles will face off in New Orleans on Tuesday night. The Lakers also play the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
“Not every game should motivate a Western Conference team to be motivated,” Schröder said. “I think we have to be motivated and ready in every game. But the one, the next two, we have to get them.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
https://sports.yahoo.com/cant-put-himself-why-dennis-113025951.html?src=rss Why Dennis Schroder says Anthony Davis is not at fault for the loss
