The Los Angeles Lakers have been playing well lately but they took a step back on Tuesday night when they were beaten at home by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Lakers didn’t even play bad, but to beat Cleveland, who owns the best record in the league at 29-4, you have to play near perfect basketball.
After the loss, Anthony Davis shared praise for the Cavaliers and their ability to answer any Lakers run.
“They’re a good ball club. Number one and elite for a reason,” Davis said. “I said, anytime we make a make a push, they make a run of their own to create more separation. And we got good looks that we missed. And they got looks that they made. So that was a difference in the game.”
The Cavaliers’ big man duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley made life tough for Davis, who still managed to finish with 28 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. Davis explained what makes those guys so tough to score on.
“They protect the paint very well,” he said. “Even if one is helping on the perimeter, still got another guy down there was very elite shot blocking to elite shot blocker than defensive players. So just makes a little tougher. But still got to find ways to score. But those two guys down there in the paint clogging it up, altering shots at the rim, offensive rebounding. Makes it a little bit tough.”
Davis has been wanting another big man next to him for years now as the Cavaliers are an example of how devastating that can be defensively.
“I mean, like I said, Jarrett Allen is guarding me. So if you get by him, then here is [Evan] Mobley right there,” Davis added. “So just got to make the right reads. That’s for anybody, even when Mobley guarding the five. Same thing. He goes by him, and then here comes Jarrett Allen. So, very unique. Not too many teams can do that, but we found ways to still score. I think they just got up a lot of threes today and made a lot of especially big-time shots.”
Anthony Davis: Lakers are turning in right direction
Despite the loss to the Cavaliers, Anthony Davis likes where the Lakers are heading going into the new year.
“I think we’re turning in the right direction. Tonight was a good night for us. We just missed a ton of shots, a lot of open looks that we missed,” Davis said. “We make half of those in a different game. I like where our ball club is. Obviously, we have some new additions with Doe Doe [Dorian Finney-Smith] and Shake [Milton]. We’re going to be able to get some practice time to get them more acclimated with what we do and try to fit them into our system, but I like the looks that they got tonight. I think we can definitely be better on both ends of the floor, but I’m not disappointed where we are right now.”
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