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Despite being massive favorites to beat the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers could’ve easily lost the first round of the play-in tournament. The Warriors had their number in the first half and kept the game close late. After the first quarter, a clip was released of Steve Kerr saying that the Lakers “got a lot of doubt down there.”
When the game was over, Anthony Davis saw the clip and decided to troll the Warriors.
It was a highly competitive game and things got chippy at times. The Warriors and Lakers have been good at different times but it appears there’s a rivalry brewing between them. Los Angeles was a LeBron James miss away from possibly losing the game and having to play a second play-in game.
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Davis Talks LeBron Poke in the Eye
The Lakers didn’t have their best game of the season. LeBron, Davis, Dennis Schroder and pretty much everybody not named Alex Caruso were having really bad games on offense. Luckily, the superstars were able to step up when it counted. LeBron suffered a serious poke in the eye from Draymond Green in the fourth quarter. That didn’t stop him from sinking the game-winning three with less than a minute left. Davis thinks that the key to LeBron’s success could be a nice poke in the eye.
“First off I think we need to poke LeBron in his eye a lot more (if) his shots are like that,” Davis said after the game. “He’s done it his whole career, he’s done it since I’ve been knowing him. Hitting from that type of range, big shot, put us up three. Good defense by us knowing that they’re down three, and Steph is going be the guy to try and shoot it.”
Obviously, Davis being sarcastic but it was an impressive display from LeBron.
Davis Explains How Lakers Defended Curry
Steph Curry, who could win this year’s MVP, had an excellent game on Wednesday. He scored 37 points and the Lakers didn’t seem to have much of an answer for him until the end. Curry was the obvious player to get the ball for the Warriors towards the end of the game while they were down. Los Angeles clamped down on him and he couldn’t even get a shot off. Davis explained how they defended the star guard.
“We just smothered him, they tried to make someone else beat us,” Davis said. “And that’s the type of defense we had, especially in the second half. In the first half, we were very lackadaisical, not Lakers basketball, not our defense. We picked up in the second half, and just got going … We know we’re not going to be perfect against a team like that. But at the end of the day we came out with the win and that’s all that matters.”
The Lakers’ offense still has issues but they have an excellent defense. While the league has become very offensive-heavy, Los Angeles is proving that it takes a great defense to win important games.
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