It was a forearm to the eye.
It was a punch to the gut.
It was routine contact on a routine drive.
It was an extraordinary symbol of a season skidding.
In the final minutes of the first quarter of the Lakers’ nationally televised showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, Anthony Davis was smacked in the face by the Warriors’ Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The eye was quickly swollen shut. The Lakers’ hopes were instantly impaired.
Davis couldn’t see, so the Lakers couldn’t win, and now their spring might not survive after a deflating 128-121 loss at a mournful Crypto.