Lakers News: Anthony Davis Acknowledges He's Still Playing Through Injury

Anthony Davis is shifting his focus to defense while he recovers from a hip injury.

After starting the season averaging over 26 points per game, Los Angeles Lakers star center Anthony Davis has clearly slowed on the offensive side of the court.

A hip injury sustained over a week ago has hindered Davis as a scorer, leading to a change in his philosophy while on the court. In his last 

In the Lakers' 107-95 win over Portland Friday night, Davis only had 16 points in 35 minutes of play, but added 14 rebounds, five blocks and three steals. His defensive presence was a major factor in the Lakers' ability to sustain a lead for essentially the entire game.

After the win, Davis said that his hip injury was still limiting him on the court.

"I'm alright. For transparency, it still bothers me, but I'm going to try to go out there and compete," Davis said. "Obviously, not being who I am offensively, shots not falling, leaping abilities and all that stuff just isn't back to where it was but I try to make up for it on the defensive end and try to impact the game other than scoring."

(Via

Spectrum SportsNet

)

Davis held a 42.1 field goal percentage Friday night after just making three of his nine attempts in Wednesday's loss to the Kings. His blocks per game have noticeably increased from 3.3 to 3.8 since sustaining the hip injury.

Davis has still proven that he is one of the elite scorers in the NBA, putting up 30 points against Portland last week. Rest could serve the 30-year-old well as a long season awaits.

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