SPORTS E3 USA TODAY z THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 z 3C
LOS ANGELES – Just after he
charged his way toward the basket, An-
thony Davis could not help himself. He
had just converted on a difficult put-
back, so Davis flexed his biceps.
The obvious message: Davis can use
his strength to dominate anyone. It
marks one of many reasons why the
Lakers acquired Davis from New Or-
leans, even if they needed to trade a sig-
nificant chunk of their young roster to
make it happen. It also largely explains
why the Lakers finished with a 120-
victory over the Grizzlies on Tuesday at
Staples Center.
“I was just playing,” Davis said. “My
job’s really easy.”
Davis sure made it look easy. He
seemingly scored anytime he wanted
(40 points) from the field (7 of 17) and
the free throw line (26 of 27) while also
grabbing 20 rebounds. If only it were
that simple, though.
Before, during and after the game, an
issue emerged that could become trou-
bling this season. Since Sunday’s win
over the Hornets, Davis has nursed
soreness in his right shoulder.
“I was really just trying to figure it all
out. It was bothering me a lot,” said Da-
vis, who sat in the fourth quarter. “It was
very sore, but I didn’t want to come out
of the game.”
Davis admitted that he “tried to be
Superman” on a dunk attempt before his
right shoulder caught on the rim. He
downplayed feeling pain afterward, but
the injury worsened significantly Tues-
day. When Davis completed a pregame
warmup to test his shooting and pass-
ing, he wore kinesio tape on his right
shoulder to minimize the swelling.
Still, Davis often grimaced anytime
he absorbed contact. After opening the
second quarter wearing an ice pack on
his shoulder, Davis then left for the lock-
er room at the 10:13 mark to get his
shoulder retaped. Lakers star LeBron
James revealed that Davis expressed
his discomfort to him directly.
“I was prepared to go the rest of the
game without him,” Lakers coach Frank
Vogel said. “I thought all night that there
was a chance that we could have to play
the game without him, so we were pre-
pared to do so.”
Davis returned with 6:34 left in the
second quarter. He threw down lobs. He
scored 20 third-quarter points on only
one field goal attempt while going 18 of
18 from the free throw line. The Lakers
went on a 22-0 run during that stretch.
“I just try to play, fight through them
and do what I’ve got to do to help the
team,” Davis said. “I’m here to be one of
the leaders of the team and it’s tough for
me to do that on the sideline. So I’d rath-
er just see how I feel, go play and try
leading that way.”
The Lakers lauded Davis for his
toughness and his dominance as they
improved to 3-1. With Davis averaging
28.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.0 as-
sists thus far, James argued that he “is
only scratching the surface” once he
develops even more on-court chemis-
try with his new teammates.
Still, the Lakers have to answer this
question. Will this short-term gain
lead to long-term pain?
Despite playing only seven NBA
seasons with the Pelicans, the 26-
year-old Davis has an extensive injury
history. Consider that Davis has
missed at least seven games in each of
his seven seasons, including 26 last
year. Consider that Davis also missed
significant stretches during that time
because of various ailments with his
left index finger, his back, his left knee,
his right shoulder, his left hand and his
left ankle.
How does Anthony’s extensive in-
jury history influence how the Lakers
will manage his current one?
“We are trying to manage for the big
picture. It’s an 82-game grind and ob-
viously the playoffs are the most im-
portant part, we want everybody fresh
going into it,” Vogel said. “So whenever
you have an injury, with whatever se-
verity it may be, you really defer to the
medical team and they know where we
stand. We are not going to force guys
out there unless they are good to go.”
In other words, Davis looked good
to go.
“We want him to do what’s best for
him,” James said.
Therefore, the Lakers lauded Davis
more for his toughness than worried if
this marked the beginning of an inju-
ry-plagued season. Beyond nursing
pain in his right shoulder, Davis dealt
with stress after needing to evacuate
his Bel Aire home this week for precau-
tionary reasons because of the Getty
fire. Yet Davis appeared resilient in ad-
justing to both incidents.
He already has moved back into his
home. He did not allow his shoulder
injury to affect his on-court aggres-
siveness.Davis dominates
even with pain
Mark Medina
USA TODAY
Lakers forward Anthony Davis drives
to the basket as Grizzlies forward
Kyle Anderson defends during the
first quarter Tuesday.
RICHARD MACKSON/USA TODAY SPORTSextinguish the fire following Tuesday’s
practice, telling reporters, “That (story)
is completely false in my, strictly speak-
ing, observation, my experience with
him so far. It’s absolutely not true.
“I say I’m the moody one. I really am.
I’m cranky, and I have my ups and
downs. If there’s just natural human be-
havior where guys are up and down,
that’s different. From my perspective, I
just give Kyrie an A-plus on his consis-
tency and his spirit. It’s been great.”
Irvingsometimes perplexed former
teammates, including LeBron James
who said after Irving left the Cavaliers,
“I had a little dialogue with him when I
heard that he wanted to be traded, but
since then I haven’t. You guys know Ky-
rie, so, next question.”
We all know his time in Boston the
previous two seasons didn’t work out as
expected, and Irving took responsibil-
ity.
I’ve knownIrving since the conclu-
sion of his freshman season at Duke and
found that – like all of us – he can be
many things: quiet, talkative, standoff-
ish, engaging, insightful, caring, inquis-
itive. And yes, Irving goes on tangents
sometimes that make it easy for people
to poke fun, at least on social media, at
his quirks.
Durant also defended Irving in the
story.
“I look at Kyrie as somebody who is
an artist,” Durant told MacMullan. “You
have to leave him alone. You know what
he’ll bring to the table every night be-
cause he cares so much about the game.
“Now, it might not be how other peo-
ple want him to care about it. He has his
way of doing things. I respect who he is
and what he does. He has all the intangi-
bles you want in a teammate and a great
player. So how he gets to the point to be
ready for 7:30 every night, I’m support-
ing him 100%.”
Following Tuesday’s practice, Jordan
also had Irving’s back.
“I think that Kyrie’s a great guy,” Jor-
dan told reporters. “I don’t think that
there’s anything negative that I’ve seen
that he’s done. And he’s a friend of
mine, so if it was, I would tell him.”An intentional and unnecessary fire
was started by the Nets this week, cre-
ating a storyline that will attract more
eyeballs and attention throughout the
season.
When you sign Kyrie Irving – and by
you, I mean the Brooklyn Nets specifi-
cally – you know who you’re getting.
He’s an All-Star point guard who is
a tremendous scorer from any spot
and angle, an elite ball handler and,
through the first six days of the 2019-
20 season, he leads the NBA in scoring
at 37.7 points per game.
Irving is also an unusual teammate
prone to idiosyncrasies, given to with-
drawing, given to making teammates
wonder what’s going on. The Nets
should have known this, whether it
was Irving talking flat-earth silliness
or going an entire practice without
talking to teammates. They know the
stories.
In a deep-dive piece by ESPN about
the Nets’ culture and their efforts to re-
shape the team with the inclusion of
close friends and two-time NBA Finals
MVP Kevin Durant, Irving and
DeAndre Jordan, Irving was depicted
as a moody star prone to alienating
teammates, coaches and manage-
ment. The section on Irving was lower
in the story and not the main focus.
Nets general manager Sean Marks
and other Nets officials were not quot-
ed directly on Irving’s behavior.
Still, it’s unusual that Nets officials
shared with ESPN that Irving had an
incident when he lapsed into a funk
during the team’s trip to China. Jackie
MacMullan reportedthat “Irving’s in-
famous mood swings, confirmed by
his ex-teammates, which followed him
from Cleveland to Boston to Brooklyn,
are the unspoken concern that makes
Nets officials queasy.”
MacMullan also reportedthat the
incident in China left “everyone
scratching their heads as to what pre-
cipitated it.”
The Nets are four months into their
relationship with Irving and one week
into the regular season and I’m left
scratching my head, trying to under-
stand why Nets officials felt compelled
to share that information. There were
also details from a team function
where Irving declined to follow a pho-
tographer’s request to remove his hat.
Are the Nets trying to alienate Ir-
ving just a fraction into his four-year
contract worth $136.4 million? Why
wouldn’t they keep this information
private while trying to understand Ir-
ving? It was bad form for the Nets to
make that public this early. It’s not like
Irving has been there two or three sea-
sons and the Nets are tired of him.
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson tried toKyrie Irving has scored 50, 26 and 37
points in his first three games with the
Nets.MARY ALTAFFER/APJeff Zillgitt
Columnist
USA TODAYNets show poor formwith Irving commentsGLENDALE, Ariz. – Kenyan Drake ar-
rived in Arizona about 4 p.m. on Mon-
day, got a physical and then got to work.
He had to move quickly, as he has a lot
on his plate.
The Cardinals traded for the Dol-
phins’ fourth-year running back, and
now he’s preparing to carry the load on
Thursday against the 49ers.
David Johnson (ankle) and Chase
Edmonds (hamstring) didn’t practice
Tuesday. Edmonds was listed as out and
Johnson questionable Wednesday, and
Drake is preparing to start just in case.
Drake says digesting the playbook is
“definitely a daunting task,” but if he has
questions, he’s not alone.
“It’s actually funny, the longest-ten-
ured running back that’s healthy has
only been here for six days,” he said, less
than 24 hours after arriving in Arizona.
“So we’ve all got a little learning curve.”
Zach Zenner and Alfred Morris ar-
rived in Arizona last week, so they hold
that six-day advantage over Drake. He’s
not particularly worried about having a
short week to make up for that lost time.
“Yeah, man, I’ve always been the type
of person, you go to the swimming pool,
you don’t just dip your toe in. You dive
right in,” he said.
Drake is “ecstatic” to be with the Car-
dinals. He spoke positively of the
chance to be with any team where he
can flourish without disparaging Miami.
About the same time he arrived at the
Cardinals, the Dolphins were gearing up
for their seventh loss of the season.
Meanwhile, Drake was diving head-
first into his playbook (or, technically,
his tablet), but taking the field with run-
ning backs coach James Saxon shored
things up. “It really started to click when
I got on the field, because I’m more of a
tactile learner,” he said. “I’ve gotta go out
there and run around and kind of get the
plays from there. So the more I’m on the
field, the more comfortable I get, andI’ve got another day to get that under the
wraps.”
Drake had spent time training in Ari-
zona a couple of years ago. He has good
memories in Glendale, too, having
played in the 2016 College Football Play-
off National Championship game with
Alabama. His 95-yard kick return for a
touchdown helped seal the 45-40 win
over Clemson.
To get his next win in Glendale, it will
take a strong showing from the Cardi-
nals’ offense. Wide receiver Larry Fitz-
gerald thinks the biggest thing withweaving in new personnel is making
sure the team doesn’t limit them in a
way where the offense becomes one-
dimensional.
“Well you don’t want to get into one of
those games were you’re passing it 50
times a game, especially when you’re
playing fronts like we’re playing against
this week. That’s not good for anybody,
when you allow their best players to be
able to be upfield and rush the passer,”
Fitzgerald said.
In Drake, the Cardinals are also get-
ting fresh legs. He perhaps has a slight
advantage in that his body has had more
recovery time, given that he did not play
Week 8. The quick turnaround has
plagued both teams, particularly at the
running back position.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said
Tuesday that running backs Matt Breida
(ankle) and Raheem Mostert (knee) are
both “banged up,” making their status
up in the air for Thursday.
Shanahan has seen what Drake did in
Miami, so he’s now waiting to see how
Kliff Kingsbury will use the running
back. Drake thinks he provides options.
“I have the versatility to catch the ball
out of the backfield, as well as running
between the tackles,” Drake said.
“So given that the (defense) would be
worried about the dynamic receivers
and other player makers that we have, to
add me to to that mix would just give a
whole other dynamic of play making
that the defense would have to worry
about.”Newest Cardinals RB Drake ready to carry load
Katherine Fitzgerald
Arizona Republic
USA TODAY Network
Kenyan Drake averaged 3.7 yards per carry in limited play this season for the
Dolphins before being traded to the Cardinals.STEVE MITCHELL/USA TODAY SPORTS