Lakers' Anthony Davis kicks Suns' Jae Crowder in groin, receives Flagrant 1 foul

Zac Al-Khateeb

Lakers' Anthony Davis kicks Suns' Jae Crowder in groin, receives Flagrant 1 foul image

Jae Crowder found himself in the right place at the wrong time during Tuesday's Game 2 against the Lakers.

Crowder was closing out on an Anthony Davis midrange jumper when the latter kicked his leg out in the act of shooting and, unfortunately, connected with the Suns forward's groin. The sequence took place less than a minute into the game, with Los Angeles up 1-0:

Ouch.

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The bright side — if such a thing can be found in this scenario — is that Crowder recovered and made two free throws. Because Davis received a Flagrant 1 foul, the Suns maintained possession, capitalizing with a Mikal Bridges 3-pointer to give Phoenix an early 5-1 lead.

Crowder finished the quarter with two points, two rebounds and three fouls; Davis had six points, three rebounds and two assists as the Lakers took a 30-24 lead into the second quarter.

The Lakers are looking to avoid going down 2-0 to the Suns, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Whether Davis' leg kick comes back to haunt the Lakers remains to be seen.

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.