With the All-Star break approaching, the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis understood that they needed to go into the weekend with some positive momentum.
After a rousing win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the Lakers had a few days off before taking on the lowly Detroit Pistons. Detroit’s been a feistier squad as of late, but Los Angeles made sure there was no letdown as they took an early lead and ran away with the win.
Davis has never played better in his career and against a young and inexperienced Pistons team, he showed why he should be getting more national attention. Davis hasn’t been getting much buzz for Defensive Player of the Year, but he continued his dominant stretch on that end by mucking up Detroit’s offense for most of the night.
The All-Star big man was a terror in the painted area and led all players with six blocks. Davis had the highlight of the night when he managed to stop a three-on-one Pistons fastbreak much to the delight of the crowd.
Davis had an efficient 20 points and 14 rebounds, but also showed off his improved passing with another four assists in just 28 minutes. He sat out the entire fourth quarter.
LeBron James had an extra spring in his step, presumably because of the three days off the team had. James played fast and physical, getting to the rim on multiple occasions and exciting Crypto.com Arena with dunks and fancy finishes.
James seemed to be coasting during stretches, but he turned it back on in the fourth quarter en route to 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He also added eight assists and one rebounds.
Rui Hachimura has struggled to find some consistency offensively, but the purple and gold make a concerted effort to get him the ball early and often. Hachimura did most of his damage in the first quarter as he was too big and strong for the undersized Detroit front court.
Hachimura ended the night with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Spencer Dinwiddie made his Lakers debut and made a couple of great plays off the bench. He finished with six points and seven assists in 31 minutes.
What’s next for Lakers
The Lakers go on the road to play the Utah Jazz to complete their back-to-back set. They’ll then get a break for All-Star Weekend before they play the Golden State Warriors next Thursday.
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