Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, and they did so with some special guests in attendance.
The Lakers welcomed Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Jack Flaherty, Chris Taylor and Brusdar Graterol of the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers to Crypto.com Arena, giving them the heroes welcome they deserve.
The Dodgers players got to meet Davis, LeBron James and other Lakers players before the game. Then at the end of the first quarter, they were welcomed to center court where a tribute video was played and the crowd gave them a huge round of applause and standing ovation.
Flaherty was carrying the World Series trophy with him on the Lakers home floor and Davis said after the game that is motivating him to win another NBA Championship for L.A.
“It was good. Obviously, we’ve been to games. I’m banned from going to Dodger Stadium, I’m 0-4 when I go to games, so I just watch it on TV now. But it’s good. I mean, obviously it’s motivating,” Davis said. “To see them holding the trophy, met with us in the back before the game, and then at the end of the first and being able to just see that brings an extra little motivation to our team to try to do the same thing for L.A.”
The Lakers and Dodgers both won their previous championships during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 so neither team got to celebrate properly with a parade in L.A.
With the city of Los Angeles finally getting its long-awaited parade when the Dodgers won it this year, Davis and the Lakers saw them celebrating and naturally want to be able to do the same at the end of this NBA season. It will take a lot for the Lakers to get back into championship contention, but with Davis playing at an MVP level to start the year and James still one of the best players in the league, they certainly can be in the mix if they stay healthy.
Is Anthony Davis reall a bad luck charm for Dodgers?
It is worth pointing out though that while Anthony Davis has seemingly banned himself from Dodger Stadium because the team has lost all of the games he has gone to, that is not exactly true. He threw out the first pitch before the Dodgers’ game on Aug. 20, 2019, a game in which L.A. beat the Toronto Blue Jays 16-3. Considering Davis isn’t the bad luck charm he thinks he is, hopefully the Dodgers have him out to another game next season, and perhaps he will be carrying the Larry O’Brien Trophy when it happens.
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