Anthony Davis reminded the basketball world Sunday night why his ninth-seeded Lakers could prove to be a handful for a first-round opponent in the playoffs.
Davis put up a historic stat line of 27 points, 25 rebounds, seven steals, five assists and three blocks as his Lakers downed the Timberwolves 120-109, capping off a week that saw them beat other top-tier teams such as the Thunder and Bucks.
After the game, Lakers legend James Worthy gave Davis his flowers for “understanding the assignment” and dominating a Timberwolves team without their two injured big men Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.
“It didn’t matter to him who was in or out,” Worthy said of Davis on Spectrum Sporstnet, via FreeDawkins. “He came to play and dominate. He’s done well against both Towns and Gobert in the past, so, it’s not like he couldn’t have done this if they were playing. These are exceptional numbers, especially on the offensive glass. He really filled up the stat sheet, but he did it in very impactful way.”
To Worthy’s point, Davis decimated Minnesota on the offensive glass, allowing his Purple & Gold squad to score a whopping 64 points in the paint. While Davis became the eighth player since the 1982-83 season with at least 25 points, 25 rebounds and five assists, no one had previously tallied seven steals to go with that stat line.
While referring to the outing as “one of the best games I’ve ever seen” from Davis’ 12-year career, Worthy further praised “The Brow” for being relatively healthy throughout the season. Davis has appeared in 62 of the Lakers’ 66 games this season after missing 26 games last season.
“He had missed several games due to injury the last few seasons, but he made his mind up that he was going to get stronger,” Worthy said of the Kentucky product. “I know he’s been working on his strength. And you can see he’s able to play through nagging injuries.”
With a healthy Davis spearheading their late-season charge, the Lakers (36-30) have won 12 of their last 17 games and are six games above .500 for the first time this season. They currently sit two games behind the Suns (37-27) for the sixth seed.
