The Lakers beаt the Hornets 124–118 on Monday night to win their fourth straight game and end their 4-game Grammy road trip. With 26 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists, Anthony Davis was once again a force in every way. It was his second triple-double of the season.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how much better Davis’s passing has become since the Lakers’ big man started making teams pay for trying to double-team him. In seven of his last eleven games, he has had at least five assists. This skill adds another level to the Lakers’ offense because he regularly sets up teammates for easy shots.
Davis has been double-teamed for most of his career, but it’s only lately that his assist numbers have gone through the roof. LeBron James told Spectrum SportsNet exactly why he thinks that’s the case:
It reads. That easy. Teams try to take the ball away from him because he can do so much in the low post and in the post. They want him to pass, and it has everything to do with having a growth attitude.
He learns about the game by watching the movie and the clips. I’m not sure what you can do now. As a team, we all need to be in the right place at the right time to have his back and make outlet plays when he’s being doubled up. His second triple-double of the season, he notched another one tonight.
Davis is on track to set a new career high in assists per game this season, and that number has been going up a lot lately. This season, the big man has given out 3.9 assists per game on average. But in 16 games since January, that number has gone up to just over five per game.
LeBron said that the rest of the Lakers need to be in the right spots for Davis to find them, and of course, they need to make those open shots, which they have been doing a great job of lately.
Davis’s dominance in the paint has given the rest of the Lakers more room to move, and now the big man is showing that he can find them for easy baskets.
Anthony Davis of the Lakers explains why he is passing better now.
When asked about his better playmaking, Anthony Davis said it was because of how well his friends moved without the ball.
He told them that it makes all the difference once he knows where the double team is coming from. That would help him figure out where his friends are, which would let him make an easy read and pass for a basket.
