The Lakers in trouble and LeBron James absent, Anthony Davis needed to step up a notch, to become the leader of Los Angeles. Until now, the interior was far from being dominant, being even sometimes forgotten…
It was not until this meeting against the Nets to see an Anthony Davis crushing the defense. With 37 points at 15/25 to shoot and 18 rebounds, including 10 offensive, he achieved, by far, his best performance of the season.
How to explain this big exit? What trigger for this 13th game of Los Angeles?
“I had a big conversation with him after our last game, our last defeat”, says Darvin Ham. “He said to me: ‘Coach, I have your back. It was huge for me to hear that. For a coach in his first season, it’s important to have a player of this caliber who tries, who does what is asked of him. »
The Lakers coach wanted his All-Star to ask for the ball and the latter, well served, feasted on pick-and-roll with several dunks against Brooklyn. He was also aggressive on the offensive rebound, with 10 catches, his new career high. Patrick Beverley judges that his teammate played “like a monster”.
The Lakers’ interior motivated by the NFL
In addition to the discussion with Darvin Ham, Anthony Davis also had another source of motivation for this duel against Kevin Durant’s gang on Sunday night.
“I watched the Packers game in the NFL before we met,” he explains, he the fan of Green Bay. “Aaron Rodgers threw a pass to Allen Lazard, who ran 30 yards. I saw him scream and that motivated me. I wanted to dominate, to be dominant. I wanted to score inside because I knew they had no blockers. We had to win this game and without LeBron James, the guys were going to rely on me to win. »
This success is obviously important for sick Lakers (only three wins since the start of the season), who will be able to breathe this week. The Californians will not play again until Friday against the Pistons, still in Los Angeles.
“We wanted the win, that’s for sure. It feels good before this week of rest and the match on Friday, ” assures the former New Orleans player. “It gives us a chance to rest, to start from scratch with a mentality that will allow us to win several matches in a row. »
| Anthony Davis | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2012-13 | NOP | 64 | 29 | 51.6 | 0.0 | 75.1 | 2.6 | 5.6 | 8.2 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 13.5 |
| 2013-14 | NOP | 67 | 35 | 51.9 | 22.2 | 79.1 | 3.1 | 7.0 | 10.0 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 20.8 |
| 2014-15 | NOP | 68 | 36 | 53.5 | 8.3 | 80.5 | 2.5 | 7.7 | 10.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 24.4 |
| 2015-16 | NOP | 61 | 36 | 49.3 | 32.4 | 75.8 | 2.1 | 8.2 | 10.3 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 24.3 |
| 2016-17 | NOP | 75 | 36 | 50.5 | 29.9 | 80.2 | 2.3 | 9.5 | 11.8 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 28.0 |
| 2017-18 | NOP | 75 | 36 | 53.4 | 34.0 | 82.8 | 2.5 | 8.6 | 11.1 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 28.1 |
| 2018-19 | NOP | 56 | 33 | 51.7 | 33.1 | 79.4 | 3.1 | 8.9 | 12.0 | 3.9 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 25.9 |
| 2019-20 | ALL | 62 | 34 | 50.3 | 33.0 | 84.6 | 2.3 | 7.0 | 9.3 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 26.1 |
| 2020-21 | ALL | 36 | 32 | 49.1 | 26.0 | 73.8 | 1.7 | 6.2 | 7.9 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 21.8 |
| 2021-22 | ALL | 40 | 35 | 53.2 | 18.6 | 71.3 | 2.7 | 7.2 | 9.9 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 23.2 |
| 2022-23 | ALL | 11 | 35 | 53.4 | 25.0 | 76.2 | 3.0 | 7.6 | 10.6 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 23.1 |
| Total | 615 | 34 | 51.5 | 30.2 | 79.3 | 2.5 | 7.7 | 10.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 23.8 | |
