For the third consecutive game, Anthony Davis was absolutely dominant for the Los Angeles Lakers. This time, Davis finished with 30 points, 18 rebounds and three steals as the Lakers dominated the San Antonio Spurs for a 31-point victory on Sunday night.
Davis is now averaging 35 points and 17.3 rebounds while shooting 61.7 percent from the field on the Lakers’ three-game winning streak. And now the question is can the Lakers’ star big man keep it up. With LeBron James likely returning to the court soon, Davis was adamant that his mindset will continue.
“Nothing changes,” Davis said when asked whether Davis can keep up when LeBron returns. “Trying to find a rhythm no matter who’s on the floor for us or for them. Continue the mindset of just trying to dominate both sides of the ball.”
Expecting these kinds of statistical performances every night would be a bit much, but what’s most important about Davis is his aggressive mindset. He isn’t settling for jumpers but is continually attacking the paint where he has been absolutely dominant.
Things will get tougher for Davis and the Lakers as they next head to Phoenix to face a very good Suns team to kick off a brutal stretch with three straight, and nine of their next 11 games on the road. But Davis feels good about the team’s confidence heading into that big test.
“Everybody’s confidence is very high while not getting too high,” Davis added. “Going into Phoenix, starting off the trip will be a good test for us, but like I said, I think the guys’ confidence is high on both ends of the ball going into that game, which we want to start the road trip off with a W. Then San Antonio back-to-back.
“It feels good to get three in a row. Now just got to carry it over onto the road and put some more wins together.”
One way to carry over that success to the road is to get another performance like the Lakers showed on Sunday night. Seven players scored in double-figures but it was the defense that stood out to Davis most and what he believes has to continue for the Lakers to keep up their winning ways.
“Guys shot the ball well. I think their highest quarter was a 28-point quarter, so we locked in defensively. They had only 92 points. I think that’s where it came from. Playing very well on the offensive end, moving the basketball, and getting great shots. Guys shooting rhythm shots, and shots were falling.
“If we continue to defend how we’ve been defending as of late, with the offense being the way it is, we’ll be fine.”
Anthony Davis wrote ‘throw the ball to AD’ on whiteboard before the season
Davis may have only recently picked things up to this level, but he came into this season focused on dominating and being more aggressive. In fact, head coach Darvin Ham recently told a story of something Davis did before the season began.
“He’s definitely getting stronger, the back is getting stronger,” Ham noted. “He’s getting more forceful in terms of pushing the issue in terms of being that threat, that initial threat. He’s been playing very, very well in my opinion. He wants that. It’s funny because he came into my office before the season even started and wrote on my little dry-erase board ‘2022-23: throw the ball to AD.’ That’s what he wrote on the board so we’re gonna hold him to that.
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