Wednesday night’s contest against the Memphis Grizzlies wasn’t the best for Anthony Davis as the Los Angeles Lakers superstar dealt with foul trouble and shot just 6-of-16 from the field. But he stepped up in the fourth quarter with 11 of his 21 points coming in the final stretch of the Lakers’ comeback victory.
Of note was a pair of 3-pointers Davis knocked down to help the Lakers maintain their lead late in the game. Davis’ 3-point shooting was a big topic prior to the season with head coach JJ Redick imploring the big man to get stretch the floor and he is taking and making more threes than prior seasons. And Davis understands how important that is to the Lakers overall.
“It’s huge for our team,” Davis said of his ability to stretch the floor. “A lot of guys will be in the paint and try to help, especially big men. I fell victim to it a couple times. But it’s just instinctual for a big to be in the paint, especially when one of the guards has the ball and they’re driving or in a post-up.
“So for me to be able to step out and make a couple 3s definitely put us over the hump and put the defense in a bind, especially the big men. They’re either gonna leave me open or have Bron, AR, Rui, whoever is in the post or has the ball, has single coverage and go to work.”
Davis is still only taking two 3-point attempts per game, but is knocking them down at a 40% rate which would be far and away a career-high number if it were to hold. Even if it doesn’t keep up at that level, the threat of him knocking those down really opens things up for his Lakers teammates as he noted.
And Redick also made note of Davis’ poise and composure down the stretch as he played with five fouls, but still came through when it mattered for the Lakers.
“Game of composure and poise for him. Didn’t get it going offensively early,” Redick said. “I felt comfortable playing him with a little bit of foul trouble when he got the fifth. Obviously, we had to take him out of the game, I think, just throughout the game, there were times where he could have gotten frustrated, and he didn’t, and he just stayed the course, and he was huge down the stretch, the threes, the ISO jumper, out of our flow set, and then getting to the foul line right after that, and just impressed with the poise and composure from AD tonight.”
Even in something of a “down” game, Davis still finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocks and most importantly the Lakers got their third straight win. Even on off shooting nights, Davis is still able to greatly impact the game and his clutch shots were crucial in this win.
Lakers’ Anthony Davis doesn’t like wearing goggles
Of course, having Anthony Davis on the court was great for the Lakers as he left the team’s previous game due to being poked in the eye and having vision issues. This has happened to Davis a handful of times over the past few years, leading many to wonder why Davis doesn’t wear protective goggles and he explained it.
“Because I don’t want to,” Davis said. “I wore goggles for three years when I was younger. Just don’t want to, to be honest. Obviously, the doctor said I don’t have to, but if it gets to a point where the doctor orders me to, (I will). I think Amar’e (Stoudemire) had to because of a risk of being blind if he gets hit in the eye or something like that, but that’s not the case for me. If it gets to that point where my eye doctor tells me that I need to wear them, then of course I will. But I’ve been cleared to go out and play without them.”
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