LOS ANGELES – Anthony Davis’ season-best performance against the Brooklyn Nets was sparked by an unlikely source a few hours before the game.
Despite growing up in Chicago, Davis is a devout Green Bay Packers fan. He finds a way to bring up the Packers before, after, and sometimes during his media availabilities. He routinely watches their games at the podium or at his locker. He’s even worn a customized Packers jersey with “Davis” as the last name to a Lakers home game. He’s a Cheesehead.
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So when Davis walked into his press conference with a smile on his face after posting a season-high 37 points and 18 rebounds in the Lakers’ 116-103 win over the Nets at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night, he said, “It’s always a good day when the Packers win.”
During the press conference, Davis revealed that watching the Packers’ 31-28 overtime comeback win against the Dallas Cowboys hyped him up to “dominate” the Nets.
“I was watching the Green Bay Packers game (against the Cowboys) and Aaron Rodgers threw a slant to Allen Lazard for 40 yards,” Davis said. “And he started (screaming) and flexing and it got me some motivation before the game. … Knowing that we had to get this win. Knowing that a lot of guys – especially with (LeBron James) out – lean on me to try to get the job done.”
Whatever the real reason behind his motivation, Davis certainly got the job done, helping the Lakers improve to 3-10 while missing LeBron James (left adductor strain) for a second consecutive game. Davis totaled his most points since May 9, 2021, against Phoenix — the end of the 2020-21 season — and tied his career-high rebounding mark with 10 offensive rebounds.
“AD played like a monster tonight,” Patrick Beverley said. “And everyone played off of him.”
Those playing off of Davis include Lonnie Walker IV, who scored 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting; Austin Reaves, who scored 15 points; and Russell Westbrook, who had 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting to go along with 12 assists and four turnovers.
Davis set an early tone for the Lakers that he sustained throughout the game, taking a season-high 25 shots. It wasn’t just the volume of shots for Davis that was notable, but where he attempted them. Twenty-three of field-goal attempts were in the paint — an encouraging development for a Lakers offense that has gone away from its eight-time All-Star far too often.
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“I was trying to get to the paint and score inside, knowing that they had limited shot-blocking,” Davis said. “When you set the screen, our guards attack downhill, attack (Nic) Claxton or (Markieff) Morris and just put it on the rim. They miss, then I have a guard on me so I have a chance for an opportunity for an offensive rebound and get a score there. So, just trying to be dominant in the paint.”
Here’s an example of Davis’ interior dominance.
Russell Westbrook drives and kicks to Patrick Beverley in the right corner in front of the Lakers’ bench. Davis, sensing a shot is about to go up, backs his way through the paint for better rebounding positioning. He muscles his way up, collects the ball, gathers himself and powerfully dunks.
This is the type of beastly play the Lakers need from Davis to have any shot in the West.
Part of Davis’ success was due to his brilliance — and not a shift in approach. When he’s locked in and feeling it, he’s still one of the toughest players in the league to guard in the post area. His jump shot, which was falling against Brooklyn, vaults his offensive ceiling to a different stratosphere.
Take this possession, for example. Davis isos Nic Claxton, jab-steps, analyzes his options and rips through to rise up for a jumper that few defenders can reach.
One of the buzzy topics in LakerLand recently was Davis’ second-half shot attempts in certain losses. Davis, especially when James is off the floor, should be the focal point of the offense.
Davis is averaging just 8.6 points in second halves this season. In his previous five games, that figure was lower at only 6.2 points. Davis hadn’t attempted more than seven shots in a second half since Oct. 30 vs. Denver — the sixth game of the season. Against the Nets, he scored 21 points on 9-of-13 shots in the second half.
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Davis made sure he was aggressive to start the second half, scoring 15 points in the third quarter behind a slew of post-ups and pick-and-roll finishes.
Eventually, the Lakers went straight to Davis-Westbrook pick-and-rolls. With the strong side of the floor cleared out — and Brooklyn surprisingly failing to adjust — Davis is able to slip, seal Durant and quickly dunk.
Ham said he’s been “trying to figure out how to get him more touches, get him more in a rhythm, especially with Bron not being out there.”
“For AD, he has to be the one to spearhead our starting group,” Ham said. “I thought he did that. Everything was aggressive to the rim. I told him, ‘Don’t settle.’ … He’s been a monster and he’s carried us. And he did so tonight.”
Davis added: “I didn’t like the way that we usually come out at half. We come out in the third quarter very slow. So, knowing that, once again that their shot blocking was very limited, I told the guys, ‘Just attack the rim.’ I don’t think we settled a lot in that third quarter.”
Davis had noted recently that teams were making halftime adjustments against the Lakers that they were failing to counter properly. That often meant opponents sending double teams and shading over toward Davis after big first-half performances, partly leading to his quieter second halves.
Over the past few days, the team has emphasized finding Davis early and often as well as the proper spacing and positioning to maximize his skill set.
The Nets largely used single coverage against Davis, inadvertently daring him to beat them, which he, of course, did. Davis could’ve had a much bigger night too. He missed several point-blank shots and had a couple of physical drives that didn’t result in free throws. He would’ve pushed for 50 points if the game were closer (he checked out with 3:39 left).
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Watch: Westbrook and Davis run a pick-and-roll to draw Kevin Durant onto Davis on the left block. Westbrook feeds Davis and relocates to the other side of the floor (a wise move after he realized Morris was about to ignore him and double Davis). Davis waits out Morris, who digs down to disrupt him.
With only Durant in his vicinity, Davis takes a dribble middle and hits a difficult fadeaway jumper.
Davis only had two assists but he generally made the right reads, with teammates either missing shots or swinging the ball elsewhere.
“Be aggressive,” Davis said of his mentality. “And when I saw that they weren’t doubling, my mindset was to go score the ball. The times that they did heavy digs and things like that or came with the double late, I just tried to make the right pass. So, that’s all it was. If I see a single coverage, I try to go attack it and make the right play.”
Following the Lakers’ loss to the Kings last Friday, Ham said that Davis told him, “I got your back, Coach.”
“That was huge for me being a first-time head coach and having a player of that magnitude just constantly try and do everything you ask him to do,” Ham said.
It’s one thing to say it and another thing to do it. The Lakers needed Davis to step up badly and he did.
They need 30-plus points and 20-plus shot attempts from Davis for as long as James is out. And even once James returns, Davis should still aim to maintain similar production.
One win obviously doesn’t change much, if anything, with the Lakers’ season. They’re still in a deep hole record-wise. They still have major roster flaws. Over the past two seasons, the Lakers have teased their potential only to follow up with a dud or two (or most recently, several). They aren’t to be trusted anymore — at least not yet.
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It’s also worth noting that the Nets were on the second night of a back-to-back and just beat the Clippers, who have already beaten the Lakers twice this season. Brooklyn was without Ben Simmons (sore left knee) and Kyrie Irving, who has yet to return to the team after his five-game suspension for sharing an antisemitic documentary on social media and subsequently refusing to say he doesn’t have antisemitic beliefs.
Frankly, a second straight win in Friday’s game against Detroit wouldn’t change much either. For anything to truly matter, the Lakers need to go on a run, ideally winning several games in a row or at least winning a majority of their upcoming games through around Thanksgiving. Most of their next six games are very winnable: vs. Detroit, vs. San Antonio, at Phoenix, at San Antonio, at San Antonio and vs. Indiana.
The Lakers will rest, recover and regroup with four days off until next Friday. It’s their longest break of the season aside from their seven days off during the All-Star break.
They aren’t practicing Monday, but they’ll have a light practice Tuesday (Ham called it a “combo day” that’s centered more on individual workouts and walkthroughs) before practicing and watching game film on Wednesday and Thursday. Lonnie Walker IV indicated that the team is expecting James, Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant, who both have yet to play due to thumb surgery, to be back by the next game.
Regardless, the Lakers need a repeat level of energy, aggression and focus from Davis on Friday against Detroit — and, hopefully, a deep Packers playoff run.
“I think it’s good that we got this win,” Davis said. “It gives a chance for guys to kind of get away from the game for a couple days and reset and come back with a mentality that we got to run off some in a row.”
(Top Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
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