The Los Angeles Lakers finally got back in the win column on Sunday night, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers to snap their four-game losing streak. As has been the case all season long, it was Anthony Davis and LeBron James leading the way for the Lakers.
Davis had another double-double, finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three steals on the defensive end. The big man has been outspoken throughout the Lakers’ rough stretch about what needed to be done to turn things around and Davis believes that happened on Sunday. Now, the key will be building off this performance.
“Just came out with a sense of urgency. We played hard,” Davis said after the win. “We played like we needed to win, like it was a must-win. Competed on both sides of the basketball. We just got to build off it. We know what we have in this locker room, we know what it takes to win and we displayed that tonight.”
Davis and the rest of the Lakers have continued to speak about their belief in the roster and what they are capable of. Davis continued to stress the need for the Lakers to use their victory as a launching pad to turn around the season after a challenging few weeks.
“It’s tough to get wins in this league,” Davis noted. “Obviously we were on a four-game losing streak so to get back in the win column is huge for us.
“Like I said, we just got to build off it, look at the film tomorrow to see what we did to win this basketball game and what we can do to get better going into our next game against Toronto. Learn from it, build on it and continue to ride this wave of winning to try to make up some ground.”
Throughout the losses, Davis’ message to the Lakers remained the same. He simply wanted the team to lock in and do their jobs, and if something wasn’t working, find a different way to impact the game, and Davis felt the Lakers did exactly that on Sunday night.
The game against the Clippers was actually one of Davis’ lesser performances statistically over the past couple of weeks. But as far as the Lakers star is concerned, his individual numbers don’t matter as long as the Lakers are winning.
“I think the frustration is just losing. I hate losing,” Davis added. “I really don’t care about my play, I only care about winning. If I play bad and we win, that’s all that matters.
“Obviously you think about things that you can do to help the team. I think all of us just kind of look at ourselves in the mirror and see what we can do to help each other and individually. So it’s not really about what I can do, but mainly what we can do to be better as a team.”
Anthony Davis stresses need for Lakers to stay together
With rumors of disconnect between players and head coach Darvin Ham, Davis has maintained his desire for the Lakers to stay together throughout this stretch to turn things around.
“Stay confident, we got to stay together,” Davis added. “Obviously it’s been a tough stretch for us but we still have a lot of basketball left. But we’re trending in the wrong direction right now. And the last thing we need, especially when guys are out, is to separate and fall apart.
“So we got to stay together, for sure, and figure it out.”
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