When the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz, the cry of "GOAT" resounded throughout the arena - 37-year-old LeBron James, who rose to prominence after losing thick eyebrows and the team was 16 points behind, roared with 15 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 consecutive points at the end of the quarter, leading the Lakers to reverse the Jazz.
He had 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists. What's more worth mentioning is that he has reached 23 consecutive games with 25+ points this season, breaking his career record while surpassing Kobe Bryant and sharing the longest record of 25+ consecutive points in Lakers history with Elgin Baylor.
But it was a bittersweet night for the Lakers — because they lost Anthony Davis again.
A few minutes into the start of the second quarter, Anthony Davis stepped on Rudy Gobert's foot after a high jump, his right ankle almost 90 degrees outcropping, his thick eyebrows in pain, rolling on the ground in pain, and what seemed to be a sharp pain that lasted for several minutes.
(This gif may cause discomfort, watch with caution)
Subsequently, after the team doctor's inspection, Thick Brow left the stadium, and when he left the field, his injured right foot was completely untouchable, and the team doctor even let the staff lift the stretcher, but Thick Brow refused to lie on the stretcher to avoid making the fans more worried. Howard and Jordan Jr. carried it back to the locker room.
Fans feared the worst would happen, but the Lakers' later X-ray showed no fractures in the ankle of the thick brow, but it was impossible to determine how long it would take to recover from the injury, and Davis will be re-evaluated after the All-Star.
This injury to the thick eyebrows is really heartbreaking. Because before the injury, he was playing the best game of the season.
Facing rudy Gobert, the league's best defensive player, thick eyebrows suffocated opponents on both the defensive and offensive ends, scoring 6 points to help the Lakers play 8-0, and taking 15 points, 1 steal and 2 blocks in the first quarter of 12 minutes. Included two 16-foot-back jumpers, two empty runs with Westbrook and a near-whistle three-pointer in the final leg.
Before this game, the Lakers only had 2 games in 7 days, which gave them a lot of time to train and rest. It can be seen that the Lakers players, especially Davis, have made a lot of efforts during this time. In the 16 minutes of the game, Davis's excitement and physical condition are unprecedented in this season - he jumped high again and again, and dunked on the heads of Gobert and Whiteside, as if the thick eyebrows of the 2020 playoffs were back...
But perhaps it was this excitement that led to his injury again.
Medically speaking, there are 3 levels of ankle sprains:
Grade I sprain: A mild stretch of the ankle ligament with only a slight tear. Presents with localized mild swelling and tenderness. Patients with ankle stabilization are able to walk with weights.
Grade II sprain: incomplete tearing of the ankle ligament, patients have moderate pain, accompanied by swelling, tenderness and bruising. There is mild or moderate instability in the ankle joint, limited ankle mobility, and pain when walking with weight.
Grade III sprain: Complete tearing of the ankle ligament. The patient has severe pain, pronounced swelling, visible ecchymosis spots, marked instability of the ankle joint, and significant loss of function and movement. Patients cannot walk with weight.
Judging from the degree of weakness, the untouchable reaction of the thick eyebrow after the injury, and the Lakers doctor's move to lift the stretcher, the thick eyebrow injury this time is obviously more serious than james's ankle sprain last season, and it is most likely a third-degree sprain.
Last season, James' ankle sprain eventually left him out for more than four weeks, and he was injured again after his comeback, and his performance in the playoffs was also affected. Therefore, it is impossible to expect thick eyebrows to return in the short term after this injury.
If you take a recovery time of about four weeks, the thick eyebrows may return around the end of March. But at that time, the Lakers will have less than 10 regular season games left, and during the time when Davis was injured, the difficulty of the Lakers' remaining schedule (based on the opponent's winning percentage) is the most difficult in the league, plus the Lakers are only ranked 9th in the West, and the Pelicans in the 11th in the West are 4 wins, and the possibility of the Lakers falling out of the playoffs can still not be ruled out.
The 2021-2022 season of the Los Angeles Lakers is likely to end here with this foot of thick eyebrows.
The weather is unpredictable, the Lakers have a good chance to turn the situation around after the communication deadline - their lineup is stable, role players Reeves and Tucker, Munch are playing better and better; they have more training time, some chemical reactions and tactical systems are obviously forming (you can look back at the Jazz game, the Lakers have a lot of empty cuts or three-point tactics around Zhan Meiwei); thick eyebrows are getting better and better, and as usual, James's state after the All-Star will also be improved by another notch...
However, everything came to an abrupt end.
For the Lakers, this is another season full of regrets. While everything was turning around, the damn wounds came to the door again. What if thick eyebrows didn't have bad feet today? They, and we, will never know.
Death before the master is successful, often making the hero cry. Of course, the thick eyebrows are not dead. But how many "peaks" does James have to waste?
Next season, James' four-year, $156 million contract with the Lakers will expire. After reaching 40,000+1000+1000, will he still stay in Angel City?
"Obviously, I don't want to see AD fall like that, and hopefully he's not in serious trouble. Of course, his situation is not very good. Of course, his health is most important to him personally and to our team, and I've seen that scene many times. It is to wish him all the best. I understood that we still had games to play and I still needed to play rounds to help us win, and I did. After the game, James said.
Meanwhile, three days to 2022 All-Star Weekend are set to begin in Cleveland.