Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis is one of the most skilled big men in the entire NBA. He is capable of operating from anywhere on the court but is at his best when operating on the block. This was certainly the case in the Lakers’ recent win over the Houston Rockets.
Davis finished with 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting with every single one of his attempts coming in the paint. The Rockets had absolutely no answer for Davis and the Lakers big man believes working out of the post is effective for himself and the rest of the team.
“If they don’t double then I have an advantage where I can go score, which I did early on in the game,” Davis said after the win. “Then they brought the double team and I was able to kick it out and we got some swing, swings into some shots.
“We had one play where I kicked it out to DLo, DLo to Bron, to AR, AR to TP on the cut and he got the and-one. Then we had other times where we got some good looks out of it and missed or made. So it’s been effective for us so far this year, just got to get to it.”
There are very few players capable of guarding Davis one-on-one on the block so he is going to have the advantage more often than not when a team doesn’t double him. And he is a much improved passer from the post as well, so the opportunity is there for others to get great looks when the defense does bring a second defender.
Perhaps most important to Davis operating on the block is that he feels it allows him to be more aggressive overall.
“Yeah, it just allowed me to be aggressive,” the Lakers star added. “Obviously the foul trouble kind of slowed it down, questionable calls, but when I’m able to have that much room when they’re not doubling, gave me a lot of room to operate to either for myself or make plays for my team. So when I catch it down there I just try to be aggressive and go score.”
Consistency and aggression are what everyone wants to see from Davis and the Lakers are a much better team when he is dominant offensively. Davis’ defense rarely wavers, but when he is the two-way monster, the Lakers are almost unstoppable and if going in the paint brings out that aggression it is something that needs to happen on a nightly basis.
Anthony Davis discusses challenge of playing through minor injuries
Davis has also been playing through a minor hip injury which he admits still bothers him some, though he won’t let that stop him from going out on the court and making an impact any way he can.
“I don’t even think it’s a challenge for me. Just wanting to go out and play at the end of the day,” Davis added. “Everybody is dealing with whatever they got going on and I just try to go out there knowing I can be a presence on the floor and knowing that being on the floor helps my team.”
Davis added that he would never put himself in a position to worsen an injury, adding that as long as he and the medical staff are comfortable, he plans on suiting up.
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