Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis is hoping to be available for the must-win showdown with the Phoenix Suns in the NBA playoffs, though the team's medical staff will decide his Game 6 status.

Davis has been sidelined since half-time of Game 4 due to a groin injury as defending champions the Lakers face first-round elimination at the hands of the Suns.

In the absence of Davis – who was dealing with a knee injury following Game 3 – the Lakers fell 3-2 behind in the Western Conference series following a 115-85 rout against the second-seeded Suns in Game 5.

Looking ahead to Thursday's crucial clash at Staples Center, Davis told reporters: "Hopefully all the rehab and treatment that I'm doing pays off and the doctors clear me to go. That's what we want.

"So, getting more treatment tonight, tomorrow [Thursday] and kind of talk to the doctors before the game -- before and after I shoot -- and hopefully everything comes back good where they clear me.

"That's what we're hoping for."

"It's tough," Davis said. "Especially [Tuesday] night, watching the game and not being able to help the team on the floor.

"It's the toughest part, knowing that I couldn't contribute. My body just wouldn't allow me to."

Davis added: "The groin happened because of the tightness in the knee from the hyperextension. I was feeling the knee kind of the whole game.

"Even the first couple plays, was feeling it. And just went up to try to lay the ball up, and as soon as I went up, I just felt it from my knee just shoot up into my groin. That was kind of the end of it."

"I just wasn't able to really move," Davis continued. "And every move that we make, it starts with the groin. Any other injury, the knee and all that, you can kind of finagle a way to move, but the groin is a tough place. So I just wasn't able to do it last night."

Davis, who had back-to-back 34-point double-doubles in Games 2 and 3, added: "There's still a Game 6. You don't win with three wins.

"We've still got a game tomorrow, which is Game 6. Whether we win by 30 or lose by 30, there's still another game.

"And same way for tomorrow -- you get tomorrow and there's a Game 7. You don't win three games in a playoff series and win a series."