NBA playoffs 2024 - Why Anthony Davis' defense could be the Lakers' biggest X factor in the Nuggets series - ESPN

WITH SIX DAYS remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers were just hours from hosting the Golden State Warriors in a game with major postseason implications between two teams trying to avoid the play-in tournament. And Anthony Davis was an absolute wreck.

An inadvertent blow to the face from Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson two days earlier had forced Davis to miss the final three quarters of an equally important game against the fellow West contender. Without Davis on the court, Minnesota outscored L.A. 46-27 in the second quarter and finished with a 127-117 win at Crypto.com Arena.

Davis arrived at the April 9 showdown against the Warriors with the intention to play, but the headaches and nausea he had been battling since the Wolves game overcame him. While Lakers coach Darvin Ham led his players in an on-court walk-through, Davis found a couch in the back to lay down, only getting up when waves of nausea sent him rushing to the trash can.

The Lakers' star big man had no choice but to go home before the 7 p.m. local tipoff, a decision, as far as the 31-year-old Davis recalled, was a first for his 12-year career.

The Warriors ran roughshod on the Lakers' shorthanded defense, shooting 58.8% overall and an even sharper 63.4% from 3 (26-for-41). It was the best shooting percentage beyond the arc by any team in league history to make that many 3s in a game.

«Pretty much impossible to make up for what he provides for our ball club both offensively and defensively,» LeBron James said of Davis after the 134-120 loss briefly sent the Lakers into the West's No. 9 seed.

As offensive numbers exploded throughout the league this season, the Lakers followed the trend, averaging 115.4 points per 100