The Los Angeles Lakers secured a 3-1 series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night with a 117-111 overtime victory at Crypto.com Arena. It was a complete team effort for L.A., who didn’t have a single player score above 23 points. But Anthony Davis had a particularly low-scoring outing.
Davis finished with 12 points on 4-for-13 from the field with 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals and four blocks in 42 minutes of action. This is coming off of his best performance of the series in Game 3, when he posted 31 points and 17 rebounds.
The Lakers star center focused less on his individual result and more on the team result following the win. “I feel really good. I’m all about getting wins no matter how I do it, no matter how we do it,” Davis said. “Things aren’t always gonna be perfect.
“Sometimes you got to win ugly, sometimes you don’t play well but you’re still trying to leave your imprint on the game and that’s what I tried to do tonight on the defensive end. Had some good looks and missed them but still tried to do the little things to help the team win.”
Davis has received plenty of external criticism for his inconsistent offensive production from game to game. But no one is more critical of Davis than himself.
“I’m still my own worst critic. I’m very hard on myself. You always want to play well, but things don’t go that way. I’ve kind of embedded that in my mind that I’m not always gonna play perfect, I’m not always gonna make shots, but we can always do the little things like energy and effort, rebounding, blocking shots, defending, things like that, setting screens so guys can get open.
“And when that goes away, that’s when you kind of don’t leave your imprint on the game so even when I’m not making shots, I still wanted to leave my imprint and do the little things that don’t really show up in the stat sheet,” Davis said. “I just keep fighting, keep playing no matter what knowing that at any moment you can make a play that turns the way is going to help the team win. So that’s been my mindset.”
Despite only scoring 12 points, Davis certainly left his mark on the game defensively. He had four blocks and effectively erased Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies offense. Jackson finished with 14 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
While it certainly would be ideal for Davis to put together a superstar stat line every single game, it’s more important that he never lacks defensive energy and effort. Even when he isn’t scoring, he serves as an achor for a Lakers defense that is among the best in the league since the trade deadline.
Davis dealing with hip issue
It became clear on Monday night that Davis may be dealing with a hip injury after he took a hard fall in the second quarter. But Davis revealed that he’s actually been dealing with the injury for over a week and is simply fighting through it.
“I just wanted to play. It’s been bothering me for probably like a week-and-a-half now but there’s no way I was coming out,” Davis said. “Just trying to give whatever I could to the team. I’ll be fine though.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!