The Los Angeles Lakers’ season and title defense is on the line tomorrow night. Down 3-2 to the Suns in the first round, the Lakers need a win at home in Game 6 to survive and force a decisive Game 7.
It’s also unclear right now whether Anthony Davis will be active for Game 6. Davis missed Game 5 with a groin injury and is currently listed as day-to-day. According the Lakers coach Frank Vogel, he isn’t sure if Davis will be active for Game 6, saying “we’ll see” when asked about his star big man’s status.
Frank Vogel, when asked about Anthony Davis’ availability for Game 6, said “we’ll see.” Vogel said Davis will be a gametime decision. “He’s doing everything he can to get back out there,” Vogel said.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 2, 2021
Ultimately, the Lakers need Davis back to have a shot at winning this series, much less repeating as champions. As it stands right now, Los Angeles needs someone to provide a difference alongside LeBron James against a very good Suns team. Davis is the best bet for that to happen, even if he’s not at 100 percent, as we saw in Phoenix’s blowout of L.A. in Game 5 without him.
Davis is almost certainly not going to be at full strength if he plays in Game 6 or in a possible Game 7, but he is one of the few genuine offensive threats the Lakers have beyond LeBron even if he’s not as dynamic as he normally is. After a poor first game, Davis was dominant in Games 2 and 3 before suffering the injury in a Game 4 loss, and he’s simply not had a long enough rehab period to get back to full strength. The best case scenario here is that Davis can be close to his best just enough to take the Lakers forward. It also seems like the Lakers won’t decide if he’ll play or not until just before Game 6 tips at 10:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, so Lakers fans will have to hope he continues improving over the next 24 hours.