Will Anthony Davis Be Up to Task in Major Clash With Kawhi Leonard? UPDATE: Davis Leaves With Injury

UPDATE: Anthony Davis left Thursday's game against the Clippers with back spasms after scoring four early points on just 2-of-9 shooting. Kawhi Leonard finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six dimes in the Clippers' 118-94 victory. What follows is the original report from pregame.

No LeBron James? No problem for Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday when they took down MVP favorite Nikola Jokic the Denver Nuggets. 

Davis will look to continue his heroic play tonight when the Lakers face their cross-town rival Los Angeles Clippers, and it could have a major impact on the odds for who wins the Western Conference this season. 

Right now, WynnBET has the Lakers as the favorites to win the West at +165 ($100 bet wins $165), but the Clippers aren’t far behind at +200. On the surface it’s surprising that the West’s No. 4 and No. 6 seeds have the best odds to win the conference, but the star talent on both teams speaks for itself. 

Tonight, Davis will try to outduel the duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to keep the Lakers from falling in the standings with a potential play-in tournament game awaiting them.

After his 25-point masterpiece to beat the Nuggets, Davis has a projected player prop point total of 22.5 on WynnBET. The over (-120) is a rather strong favorite over the under (+100) for Davis on Thursday. 

Davis has scored over 22 points just two times since returning from the calf/Achilles injury that kept him out of the lineup for over two months. However, he is averaging 25.5 points per game in the last two games he’s played with LeBron out of the lineup.

James is out again on Thursday, but will Davis have what it takes to outscore Leonard? If the Lakers want to win, he has to. 

Leonard has taken a step back in the Clippers’ offense since returning from an injury of his own, as he’s only attempted 18 shots over the past two games. He’s still averaging 14.5 points per game over those two contests, but it is a far cry from the 22.5 points that he is projected on WynnBET. Leonard is -110 on both the over and the under for his point total. 

With George averaging 27.0 points over his last 10 contests, it’s possible Leonard once again acts as the 1B option on offense.

We think that Davis will have more opportunities to hit his over on the night, and until Leonard shows that he’s back to his dominant self, we’re rolling with Davis to get the better of this matchup.