PHILADELPHIA -- Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis exited early in Tuesday night's 118-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with an abdominal muscle strain and did not return.
Davis subbed out with 2:10 remaining in the first quarter, with L.A. leading 20-17, and immediately went to the locker room for examination. By the time he was ruled out for the rest of the game at halftime, the Sixers were up 73-57.
"When our best player goes out, it's always challenging," said LeBron James, who had 31 points but committed nearly as many turnovers (8) as the Sixers (9). "If he's out from the beginning, then we have a game plan set. We know what to expect, we know what our lineup is going to be. But when AD or any one of our guys go down throughout the course of a game, it's just tough."
Davis did not speak to reporters after the game. When asked about Davis' status moving forward, James said, "I think he'll be fine."
L.A. started the third quarter with Dorian Finney-Smith in Davis' spot along with the starters.
The Lakers managed to cut the Sixers' lead to 12 in the third quarter before back-to-back turnovers by James led to two straight 3-pointers that blew things open for Philadelphia.
"We actually found something good in the second half, and then we just didn't execute in two of those turnovers that he had were on those plays," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "I attribute that to just a lot of fatigue."
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers, who were playing without Joel Embiid (knee) and Paul George (hand), with 43 points on 15-for-26 shooting.
Davis came into the night on a tear, averaging 32.8 points on 58.2% shooting, 15 rebounds and 2.5 blocks during the Lakers' four-game winning streak.
"He's playing at a really high level right now," Redick said of Davis before the Sixers game. "He's got his pop and his juice back."
Davis finished with four points on 2-of-3 shooting, two rebounds and one steal Tuesday.
The Lakers continue their five-game road trip in Washington on Thursday and New York on Saturday before returning to L.A. to face the Clippers in another road game at the Intuit Dome on Tuesday.