The Los Angeles Lakers racked up another win, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 123-113 and moving to 28-7 during the 2019-20 NBA season.
While the win was nice, it was the team’s second consecutive lackluster performance as they once again let a large lead slip away in the second half. The Lakers bench managed to put up a meager 22 points and allowed the Pelicans to come back at the start of the second and fourth quarters, forcing head coach Frank Vogel to insert his starters earlier than normal.
However, Anthony Davis had a monster night against his former team as he recorded a double-double (46 points and 13 rebounds), showing once again just how dominant he can be on any given night. And after the game, Davis discussed how he and LeBron James have been able to find so much offensive success together.
“We do a great job of finding each other, more so him finding me than me finding him. He gets on me a little bit about that, but I think in the two-man game pick-and-roll, it’s tough to guard when you have a guy like LeBron coming downhill at the big and then me rolling to the basket. You kind of have to pick your poison,” Davis detailed.
“He does a great job of reading it, when to pass it, and when to go finish. It’s been effective and we’re constantly learning each other and trying to get better and find ways to score other than the pick-and-roll, but it’s been very effective for us.”
James leads the league in assists and Davis is a large part why as the latter’s ability to score either in transition, pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop situations gives the former options when scanning the floor and reading the defense. James is one of the best playmakers in the NBA and a load to deal with when he has a full head of steam, so defenses are forced to collapse on him which generally opens up the floor for Davis to score.
Against the Pelicans, James tallied up 15 assists with half of those going to Davis. New Orleans had no answer for the All-Star duo as James had zero issues finding Davis in the key for easy dunks or lobs throughout the game.
While Davis and James can carry an offense by themselves, Vogel will need to find ways to get the rest of his roster going when either of the two sit. In the meantime, they will take the win before preparing for the Detroit Pistons.