Before the Lakers were blown out by the Suns 140–111 Sunday night, Lakers star Anthony Davis made a bold statement ahead of the game. Davis, who is currently dealing with an ankle injury, was forced to miss multiple games in the 2021 playoff series against the Suns and was asked if that was the main reason the Lakers lost in six games.
“It was … We know that,” he said, per ESN. “They know that … They got away with one.”
After Phoenix’s blowout win, Suns guard Devin Booker decided to respond to the comments and didn’t hold back.
“I just think it’s funny,” Booker said. “It’s just all the ifs. If ‘ifs’ were a fifth, we’d all be drunk. There’s a lot of ‘iffs’ in this game. Instead of just taking the high route and going, you have to make a comment like that it’s kind of funny.”
The Lakers were up 2–1 in the first round of the playoffs but Davis injured his groin in Game 4. The Suns won the next two games with Davis out to take 3–2 series lead, but he was able to appear in Game 6. Unfortunately for the injury-prone star, he reaggravated the injury after just a couple minutes and left the game. Los Angeles was bounced out of the first round while Phoenix eventually went to the NBA Finals.
Suns coach Monty Williams wasn’t so fast to fire back at Davis, but he certainly didn’t dismiss his own team.
“I don’t want to say anything disrespectful about that,” Williams said. “He was hurt. The thing about that series: Chris [Paul] was hurt for most of the series and all anyone talked about was Anthony being hurt. I’m just glad we won.”
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