After a bit of a rough stretch, Anthony Davis has been right back to his early-season form as of late and that was on full display in the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over the Sacramento Kings. Davis might’ve only scored 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting, but he was the dominant force in this game with 19 rebounds, four assists, six blocks and three steals in the 13-point victory.
Seven of Davis’ rebounds came on the offensive end as that was a point of emphasis for the Lakers, who grabbed 14 overall, and his rim protection was simply elite. A statline like this is one that only a couple of people in the league today is capable of and LeBron James believes this is not something to be glossed over.
After the Lakers’ win, James spoke about Davis, calling him special and imploring the basketball world not to take these kinds of performances for granted, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“AD is special. Don’t take those performances for granted and say that’s just AD doing AD. Nah, that’s a special talent and a special player. We needed every last one of those 20 boards and everybody just tried to help protect him. I thought Max was great, his offensive rebounding was great. And I thought Gabe and DLo came off the bench and gave us a big-time boost. We needed it.”
Davis can often make the extraordinary things look regular and he has nights like this so often that it feels normal, but LeBron is right in that these performances shouldn’t be taken for granted and Davis is a truly special player that should be celebrated.
This Lakers win did take a lot of contributions across the board as well. LeBron pointing out the three offensive rebounds grabbed by Max Christie, and D’Angelo Russell and Gabe Vincent combining for 28 points off the bench is noteworthy as well. The Lakers need everyone to step up to be successful and they got that in this game.
But it was Davis who set the tone with another unreal night that is becoming so common that it comes off as regular. But LeBron won’t let that happen as he will make sure Davis gets all of the praise he deserves.
Lakers’ Anthony Davis says break was beneficial for his body
The Lakers have been afforded a bit of a break lately thanks to the Emirates NBA Cup taking center stage. The win over the Kings was just their third game in 12 days and Anthony Davis says this break has been beneficial to him physically.
“Yeah. Anytime you play throughout the summer competitive basketball and then come right into the season, the break that we had this week and last week has been good for my body to let it heal, let it rest a little bit. It’s definitely beneficial.”
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