The Los Angeles Lakers saw the Phoenix Suns reclaim homecourt advantage on Sunday afternoon, as the Suns ran away from L.A. in the third quarter of Game 4 in L.A. before fending off one last LeBron James-led surge late to earn a comfortable win to even the series at 2-2. A significant reason for the Suns being able to put distance between themselves and the Lakers in the third quarter was the absence of Anthony Davis, who left Game 4 in the second quarter with a groin injury and would not return.
Without Davis, the Lakers’ offense struggled in the non-LeBron minutes (and especially during a stretch without James or Dennis Schröder) and their lack of rim protection was noticeable in Phoenix’s run. On Monday, we learned a bit more about the severity of Davis’ groin injury from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, who reports that the superstar big man is “unlikely” to play Game 5 in Phoenix but the hope is that he is able to return later in the series.
Lakers star Anthony Davis is unlikely to play in Game 5 vs. Suns on Tuesday due to strained groin, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. There’s optimism about Davis‘ status as series continues and as he is evaluated day-to-day.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 31, 2021
Davis’ expected absence opens the door for the Suns to reclaim the lead in this series as they are currently 5-point favorites in Game 5 due to a combination of being back home, AD’s injury issues, and the continued improvement of Chris Paul’s shoulder. There is no replacing Davis for the Lakers, although they certainly have ample experience this season in playing without him as he missed significant time with an Achilles issue. Frank Vogel has tried just about everything in Davis’ stead in terms of a frontcourt rotation, from Andre Drummond to Marc Gasol to Montrezl Harrell, all of whom give L.A. something different but also have a unique weakness as well.
Gasol performed the best of that trio in Game 4, and it would stand to reason that he will see the biggest minutes increase of anyone in Davis’ absence. Hopefully a few days of rest can have AD ready to go for an elimination game on either side in Game 6, but groin injuries can be a bit fickle and that remains to be seen.