Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers goes down on the court during the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2020 NBA Finals on October 9, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Sam Greenwood/Getty Images/AFP
Anthony Davis insisted he’ll be ready to go on Sunday when the Los Angeles Lakers try again to close out the Miami Heat for the 2020 NBA title, despite an early injury scare in the Lakers’ game-five loss on Friday.
Davis, playing in his first NBA Finals, took an awkward hop as he battled Miami’s Andre Iguodala for a rebound late in the first quarter and limped off the court in pain.
The Lakers said he aggravated a contusion in his right heel, but after pacing gingerly around on the sideline, he returned to the contest to score 28 points.
“Iggy kind of stepped on it,” he said. “Reaggravated it. But I’ll be fine on Sunday.”
Davis said he originally hurt his heel in the Lakers’ Western Conference finals win over the Denver Nuggets.
He said the pain Friday “kind of just wore off,” although his movement appeared to be affected late in the game.
“I just kept moving around, just trying not to sit down. Get that adrenaline going and I was able to keep going and keep playing,” said Davis.
The Lakers still lead the best-of-seven series three games to two and Davis said they have no reason to hang their heads after coming up just short — 111-108 — in the tense back-and-forth battle.
“It’s basketball,” he said. “It’s the Finals. They wanted to win as bad as we wanted to win.
“So we’ve just got to go take it on Sunday.
“We win one, they have to win two,” he said. “We have to keep that in mind, as well.”