The Dallas Mavericks picked up a win over the Indiana Pacers, but it came with more injury concerns for Anthony Davis.
Dallas managed to get past the Pacers, but any relief was overshadowed by fresh worries about Davis’s fitness after he left the game early.
Davis, who had already been battling Achilles tendinopathy before tipoff, lasted just seven minutes before being ruled out with what the team called left lower leg soreness.
And Dallas ended up having to play without their big man for nearly the entire game. Not that it made much of a difference on this occasion as Kyrie Irving scored 28 points, while Dereck Lively II added 24 points and 16 boards in a win over the Indiana Pacers.
However, given how thin their roster is becoming with all these injuries, there may be trouble ahead for Jason Kidd and his players. The Dallas Mavericks have now won three games in a row after losing five straight before that run. Yet Davis’s status is once again uncertain for an important stretch of games coming up next week against Milwaukee and Boston.
Richard Jefferson criticises Anthony Davis
Losing Davis would make things even harder for the Mavericks, who are already having trouble getting into a rhythm without Kyrie Irving.
And Richard Jefferson didn’t hold back. The former NBA player said that Davis has no one else to blame for the way things have gone this season.
“It’s not Anthony Davis, it’s not him, we saw it with Zion [Williamson]. You’ve seen it with players if they don’t come in in elite shape, it’s calf injuries,” Jefferson said on the Road Trippin’ Show.
He added: “it’s hamstring injuries, and that’s not the only way to get those injuries, but the probability of those go up. Not conditioned, those probabilities go up.”
Since joining Dallas, Davis hasn’t looked like the player he once was. He even showed up to training camp overweight, which raised some eyebrows at the time.
Richard Jefferson doubles down on Davis criticism
For much of his career, Davis has been in the conversation as the best power forward in the league. But this season, the former top pick has looked like a shadow of that player.
This year, he’s averaging 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game— all numbers below his career marks.
Jefferson believes a lack of conditioning is to blame for Davis’ drop in production. “Not conditioned, and overweight, and you’re about to go play against the best, most elite athletes in the world, and you’re going to show up overweight or out of shape.”
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He added: “You are begging for something to not go the way you want.” The question now is whether Davis can turn things around before it’s too late. If he can’t, we may be seeing a decline from one of this era’s great power forwards.
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