Anthony Davis said it was extremely important that the Los Angeles Lakers win their final two games before the All-Star break, and the big man ensured that happened.
With LeBron James sitting out on a back-to-back, Davis led the way with another dominant performance of 37 points and 15 rebounds as the Lakers left Utah with a 16-point victory over the Jazz.
The Lakers have now won six of their last seven games and sit four games above .500 going into the break. But more importantly, the Lakers look like a team that is finally coming together and playing good basketball.
Davis feels that the Lakers are finally beginning to establish their identity of being a fast-paced team that attacks the rim and plays tough defense. And he wants to make sure they continue playing this way once they get back from break, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah. Not what we can be, but just who we are. It’s game whatever and we got to have an identity. We’re starting to establish that, we’re gonna be a fast-paced team. A team that likes to get into the paint and get to the line, but also be tenacious on the defensive end. So we’re creating an identity for what we have to be moving forward. We can’t be coming out the All-Star break and alright, what type of team are we? Or this is who we have to be and all that. This is who we are. And we got to make sure that how we’re playing as of late, the past two, three, four weeks, keeping the identity and carrying it over post All-Star.”
Even in their lone loss over this stretch to the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers looked like a much more cohesive team and that is a good sign going forward. Davis understood that this game against the Jazz is one the Lakers could’ve let slip away as they had some built-in excuses, but is happy they didn’t let that happen:
“It’s no excuse when it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers. Even if it’s a legitimate excuse, no one cares. So for us, coming in and making sure that we have a mindset of getting this win just because of the fact that this team is right below us in the standings and we’re trying to climb. And it’s kind of one of those trap games right before All-Star and you’re on the road, like you said, you get in late, you can easily fold and just be like ‘Alright, whatever, we won four out of six.’ And kind of just move forward and get to All-Star. So as Coach Ham said, this is a good ‘quality of life’ win.”
The Lakers now have some time to rest up and regroup for the stretch run. They have built some positive momentum and plan on building on that when games resume next week. And with Davis playing at this level, they undoubtedly can continue on this path.
Anthony Davis not focused on winning Defensive Player of the Year
Anthony Davis has been dominant on both ends of the court all season long and with his performance should be a real candidate to pick up his first Defensive Player of the Year award. But after being passed over in prior years, the Lakers big man isn’t focused on that accolade anymore.
“I feel like I should have won it a couple of times, but didn’t,” Davis said. “At this point, I’m just trying to win (games). Continue to have a presence on the defensive end and if that seems to be in the plans for me, to win it this year, then obviously it’ll be exciting for me to have one of those under my belt. But, I feel like I got hustled out of a couple of them in my career. So, it is what it is.”
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