After a loss on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers immediately bounced back with one of their most impressive performances of the year. Anthony Davis picked up three fouls in the first quarter, but it didn’t matter as the Lakers used a 51-point second quarter to spark their 139-122 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
That 51-point quarter tied a franchise record and the Lakers’ 87 points in the first half was the second most in team history. Davis believes the key to the performance was the Lakers sharing the ball.
“We were moving the basketball, sharing the ball,” Davis said after the win. “We were getting stops so we were able to get out in transition, get some easy ones. DLo had it going, I think he made three straight or four straight 3s. Rui made plays.
“So anytime we’re able to get stops and play in transition and play fast and share the basketball the way we’ve been sharing the basketball, the offense starts to click and we’re able to score 51 in a quarter.”
All five Lakers starters scored at least 20 points on the night and the team had 32 assists, led by 14 from LeBron James. But the defense also came through, especially in the second half as the Lakers held the Pelicans to just 48 points after allowing 74 in the first half and Davis feels a performance like this showed what the Lakers are capable of.
“But it showed the type of team we can be when we lock down defensively,” Davis added. “This team is obviously a great ballclub when they’re playing well, they beat us by like 30 in New Orleans so they’ve been hot.
“But when we’re playing our style of defense and were able to buckle down and play how we play offensively then we can start correcting the little details that we have. But we can’t tell if something works or doesn’t work if we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do. A game like tonight kind of puts us back to our goal and back in the win column, which we’ve been doing the last couple games.”
The Lakers have now won four of their last five games and have a chance to go into the All-Star break with some momentum which seems possible as this new starting lineup with Rui Hachimura replacing Taurean Prince is clicking. Davis again spoke on the unselfishness of the group as making a big difference.
“Like I said, all of us are just sharing the basketball. No matter who scores, as long as the ball goes in the basket,” Davis noted. “We’ve been having a lot of high assist games so we’ve been moving the basketball and sharing it and if you’re open, shoot it. If not, move on to the next player. So we’ve been doing a good job of playing together, playing for each other and the result of that is you have guys shooting the ball with confidence and playing with confidence, which leads to five starters with 20-plus.”
The Lakers are finally beginning to look like a team capable of making some noise in the playoffs and if they continue to play like this, things could finally start to turn around.
Anthony Davis discusses what Spencer Dinwiddie will bring to the Lakers
The Lakers will also be getting a boost from the buyout market as the team is signing point guard Spencer Dinwiddie. Anthony Davis discussed what he will bring to the team.
“He’s a big guard. Shotmaker, playmaker, obviously we’ve seen what he did in Brooklyn, Dallas, making big plays for them. He’s a well established player and vet in this league,” Davis said.
Dinwiddie is averaging 12.6 points and 6.0 assists in 48 games this season with the Brooklyn Nets.
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