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The Los Angeles Lakers suffered about as heartbreaking of a loss as possible on Tuesday night in Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets. Despite an excellent effort from Anthony Davis, LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers were unable to hold off the Nuggets, with Jamal Murray hitting a buzzer-beating jumper over Davis to cap the comeback and give them a 2-0 series lead.
The Murray shot came right in front of the Nuggets bench and thus, when the shot fell through, the Denver players piled on the guard. But Davis’ momentum actually carried him into the bench and the Lakers star was in danger of having his foot trapped amongst the Nuggets players during their celebration.
In the heat of the moment, however, Davis was saved by a familiar face in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The former Laker actually came to the bench and freed Davis before anything bad could happen, via TJ Manotoc of ABS-CBN News:
Likely won’t be discussed at all…
BUT
check out KCP making sure his former teammate Anthony Davis’ foot DOES NOT GET HURT amidst that Nuggets pile up on the bench. pic.twitter.com/RjQYz7ToZO
— TJ Manotoc (@tjmanotoc) April 23, 2024
It was an extremely nice gesture from Caldwell-Pope, who was a big part of the Lakers’ 2020 championship run. The fact that he would even recognize that situation in the midst of a wild celebration for his own team shows his character and the type of person he is.
Caldwell-Pope did struggle overall in Game 2, finishing with just six points, but did have a massive slam dunk over Taurean Prince in the midst of the Nuggets comeback to bring the crowd to their feet. Davis, meanwhile, did everything he could to get the Lakers a win with 32 points and 11 rebounds while dealing with foul trouble thanks to taking on the task of defending Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
Obviously Davis would have preferred the Lakers come away with a win instead of heading back to L.A. down 2-0. But even still, it was nice to see Caldwell-Pope looking out for him when nobody could have blamed him for not noticing.
Anthony Davis: Lakers have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing
Anthony Davis was unsurprisingly not in a great mood after Game 2, a contest in which the Lakers led by 20 points in the second half. The big man didn’t mince words either, noting that the Lakers have too many stretches where they aren’t doing anything right.
“Just got to focus on Game 3. We’ve shown that we’re more than capable. We’ve also had stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor. And those are the ones that cost us. We got two days to get it right and be ready to win Game 3 on Thursday.”
The odds are already stacked against the Lakers, but if they aren’t able to figure things out and take Game 3, their season is set to end very early.
More must-reads:
- Knicks' Villanova trio knocks out the 76ers in Philadelphia
- Pacers ride bench to first playoff series win in 10 years
- The 'Highest career PPG in the playoffs' quiz
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