Anthony Davis ponders what 'could have been' as injury-riddled Los Angeles Lakers lose sixth straight

LOS ANGELES — After the Lakers continued their freefall from play-in tournament contention with a sixth straight loss on Sunday, Anthony Davis looked back at a season gone awry and reflected on what «could have been.»

«I think the biggest thing that I think about personally is what we could have been, had we stayed healthy all year,» said Davis, who has missed 39 of L.A.'s 78 games because of various injuries. «What could we have been.… Guys feel like, 'OK, what could we have been if I was healthy all year, [LeBron James] was healthy, [Kendrick] Nunn was healthy.' You think about those things. We put this team together and it looked good on paper, but we haven't had a chance to reach that potential with guys in and out of the lineup.

»So the most frustrating part of this season is not being sure of what we could have been."

L.A.'s 129-118 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, coupled with the San Antonio Spurs' win over the Portland Trail Blazers, increased the Spurs' lead for the No. 10 seed, and final play-in spot in the Western Conference to two games with four games remaining. But since the Spurs own the tiebreaker by winning their season series against the Lakers, L.A. would actually have to gain three games on the Spurs by season's end to catch San Antonio.

The Denver game was just Davis' second game since mid-February because of a right mid-foot sprain and the injury continued to flare up, causing him to sub out in the first quarter and receive treatment on the sidelines. As remote of the chance of the Lakers catching the Spurs might seem, Davis vowed to play through pain as the regular season comes to a close with road games in Phoenix on Tuesday, Golden State on Thursday, back home Friday against Oklahoma City