LOS ANGELES — After scoring not less than 35 factors in his second consecutive recreation to open the season, main Los Angeles to a 123-116 win over the Phoenix Suns and a 2-0 file, Anthony Davis was requested if he may title the 2 different Lakers greats to match his scorching begin.
It took him six errant guesses — Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, James Worthy and LeBron James — earlier than he obtained one proper.
“Jerry West?” Davis requested, appropriately naming the Corridor of Famer who opened the 1969-70 season with 39 factors in his first recreation and 42 in his second.
James, standing at his locker subsequent to Davis, helped out the large man with an help on figuring out the opposite.
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“Elgin,” James stated.
“Elgin Baylor,” Davis continued, mentioning the ahead who began the 1962-63 season with 71 factors in his first two video games, which matches Davis’ whole.
It has been an eye-opening launch for Davis, who at age 31 and in his thirteenth NBA season and sixth with the Lakers, lastly seems positioned to take the torch because the staff’s finest participant.
“It is crucial that he is the principle focus for us each single evening,” James, 39, stated after ending with 21 factors and eight assists. “We all know what he’ll do defensively, however offensively now we have to search out him in a number of locations on the ground all through the entire recreation. And we have achieved that by two video games.”
James, a 22-year veteran, is not precisely admitting he’s slowing down, nevertheless. Look no additional than his reply to being requested if he would play Saturday on the second evening of a back-to-back in opposition to the Sacramento Kings as proof.
“I plan on enjoying each recreation [this season],” James stated. “We’ll see what occurs if I do not.”
The Lakers clawed again from an early 22-point deficit in opposition to the Suns, with Davis, James and Austin Reaves (26 factors, 8 assists, 3 steals) main the cost.
“What he is been doing is type of, it is unreal, clearly, however I count on him to go dominate the sport in lots of aspects,” Reaves stated of Davis. “I am simply fortunate to have him as a teammate.”
And Lakers followers, it could seem, ought to really feel lucky to have JJ Redick as their coach.
One must rattle off as many names as Davis did — Darvin Ham, Frank Vogel, Luke Walton, Byron Scott, Mike D’Antoni and Mike Brown — earlier than mentioning the final coach to steer the franchise to a 2-0 begin: Phil Jackson in 2010-11.
Redick, like the remainder of the staff, handed on the credit score to Davis too.
“There’s an intentionality to have [Davis] concerned as a lot as doable,” Redick stated. “We acknowledge what sort of participant he’s and that he can create mismatches. … There is a consolation degree and a confidence degree that he has that, if the sport begins getting wacky, he is aware of the ball goes to come back again to him. … The ball goes to search out him.”
