Lakers' Anthony Davis: "The whole world wants to see us lose"

Anthony Davis mulled over what could have been this season after Sunday's 129-118 loss to the Denver Nuggets, and admitted that sometimes he feels like the whole world wants to see the Los Angeles Lakers lose.

The Lakers' loss means they are now two games behind the San Antonio Spurs in the race for the last Western Conference Play-In Tournament spot, with just four games to play. Favourite to win his second consecutive MVP award, Nikola Jokic starred once again for the Nuggets, scoring 38 points on 15-of-22 shooting, with 18 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks.

Davis also played well, with 28 points (11-of-25 shooting), nine rebounds, eight assists, two steals and three blocks, but when speaking to post-game media he wondered what his team could have accomplished if they had been in healthier shape.

"We never [got a chance to get continuity] all year," he said. "I think us three – being me, LeBron [James] and Russ [Westbrook] – have played… 21 games together? We didn't expect to only have 21 games together, but it's just kind of been that year. Either I'm in, or [James is] in, and the times we do play together we look really good – and then somebody's out of the line-up. It's been tough not being able to fully reach our potential, as far as us three being on the floor and seeing what we really could be. But that being said, we also have enough to win basketball games, either when [James] doesn't play or when I don't play. You saw tonight, we fought extremely hard, and we were there, there were just some costly plays in the last four or five minutes that cost us the game."

Lakers' fitness issues

That thought about what the Lakers could have been was not a passing one for Davis, who admitted it weighs on his mind. "I think the biggest thing that I think about is 'what could have been'," he said. "If we stayed healthy all year, what could we have been?  Of course you have to figure out the kinks early on, but after that 10, 15, 20 games to figure it out, and you get close to All-Star [Weekend], or after All-Star, and you're rolling, you feel like 'what could we have been' if I was healthy all year, or LeBron was healthy all year, if [Kendrick] Nunn was healthy. You think about those things. When we put this team together, it really looked good on paper, but we haven't had a chance to reach our potential."

While there is plenty of reflection happening, Davis insisted his side is not going to roll over in the last few games of the season, but admitted he feels like people enjoy watching the Lakers struggling. "We know with the situation we're in, especially with losing today, it's another must-win – a must-must-win – in Phoenix [against the Suns on Tuesday]," he said. "[Phoenix] is playing well, but also can be beat. But [our] spirits are high, we're not a team that's going to fold until it's all the way over. We've got four games left, and it's our job to try and compete and go out and win every one of those. There's no moral victories in this league. Especially with us – the whole world wants to see us lose, to be honest."