‘He can’t put it on’: Why Dennis Schroder says Anthony Davis is not to blame for the loss
Anthony Davis’s voice was low but stern as he criticized his game.
His play has been at such a high level in leading the Lakers to a three-game winning streak, that even as Davis produced a double-double against the New York Knicks, he was annoyed that he didn’t do more.
Davis’ 17 points and 16 rebounds weren’t enough to stop the Lakers from losing to the Knicks 112-108 on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“My game. I played terrible,” Davis said. “I 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 of five free throws. He was a plus-nine in the plus-minus category, but Davis still took 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. “Offensively, I wasn’t there. The free throws, the trays, the handle, the shots are missing. All offensive. Like I said, the guys played well tonight. They did their job. Dennis (Schroder), DLo (D’Angelo Russell), Austin (Reaves), Wenyen (Gabriel), Rui (Hachimura), all those guys did more than enough to help win the game. I didn’t do my part.”
Schroder, for his part, was not about to let Davis take the blame. In Schroder’s mind, 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,” Schroder said. “It is in everyone. When we lose, we lose as a team. When we win, we win as a team.
“But, AD, he tries to be great at all times and he’s been great 90% of the time for us. That he missed free throws there, that happens, We are all human and we cannot control if a shot goes in. But everything else, defensively, he still did a great job. Even in the second half on Julius Randle. So, he can’t put it on himself.”
Beasley on a losing streak
It was another tough night for guard Malik Beasley.
He took his first shot, which seemed to be a sign of things to come.
Instead, Beasley finished his night against the Knicks shooting 4-of-12 from the field, 2-of-8 from 3-point range, for 10 points.
In his last three games, Beasley has shot 25% from the field and 21% from 3-point range.
“I encourage him to keep shooting,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “I don’t care if he went 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 (plays after timeout) don’t work. All my coverages don’t work. But we continue to fight and stack up and try to do what we do and keep doing it continuously so that we can improve and make things work out.”
On the road
After the loss to the Knicks, the Lakers were out of position for the inning game and were ranked 11th in the Western Conference. They are tied with the Utah Jazz (ninth) and Oklahoma City (10th), each with a 33-35 record; the Jazz and the Thunder own the tiebreaker over the Lakers.
But the Lakers also have the same record as the 12th-seeded Pelicans, who Los Angeles will face on Tuesday night in New Orleans. The Lakers also play the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
“Every game shouldn’t require a Western Conference team to be motivated,” Schroder said. “I think that in every game we have to be motivated and prepared. But that, the next two, we have to get them.