Anthony Davis was not jubilant after his Los Angeles Lakers picked up their fourth win of the season over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night.
Davis is a former 2020 NBA champion. He’s accomplished much in the league. Winning is always desired by a player of his caliber, and at this point in his career, expected. That’s especially the case against a rebuilding team like the 1-5 Raptors. But when his 4-2 Lakers allowed the Raptors to storm back from a huge early 45-19 deficit at the top of the second quarter and just narrowly win by a score of 131-125, the Kentucky product let his displeasure be known.
Lakers’ Anthony Davis lights fire under team, calls Raptors win “unacceptable”
In his pon-court post-game interview, Davis did not speak very highly of the win, but instead expressed how his high expectations for the team were not met amid them carrying championship expectations on the year, saying this (h/t Ricardo Sandoval of Los Angeles Lakers on SI):
“Unacceptable. Yeah, we won, and we’ll take the win for sure because it is hard to win in this league, especially on the road, but we’re a long way to where we want to be,” Davis said.
“Having a big lead like that, giving them 31 points, I think 31 in the second, 38 in the third, like if we’re going to do anything of goals or aspirations this season, we cannot allow that on the defensive end.”
The Lakers were outdueled by the Raptors in several departments in the last win
As a team, Los Angeles shot an underwhelming 34.4 percent from three-point range. They allowed Toronto to out-rebound them 44-43, out-assist them 35-29, and win the points in the paint battle by a margin of 10 points.
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The Lakers’ strong individual contributions helped them narrowly win
Individually, the Lakers got MVP-caliber play from Davis yet again with a monster 38-point, 11-rebound double-double on 70 percent shooting from the field. He received help from his fellow starters as D’Angelo Russell notably came out of his early season slump with 19 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor, finishing as a team-high plus 14 on the affair.
LeBron James mustered up a classic performance of 27 points and 10 assists and Austin Reaves continued his breakout campaign with 20 points and six dimes of his own. However, they allowed Raptors star RJ Barrett to erupt for 33 points and 12 assists and guard Gradey Dick to drop 31 points of his own, all without franchise player Scottie Barnes in the lineup.
The Lakers will look to remedy issues in the next game vs. the Pistons
Thus, the Lakers will take the win, as Davis said, but against a team that should’ve been put away without a chance for return, shorthanded at that, squeezing by with a six-point victory offers as much concern as it does encouragement. The Lakers have a major bench-scoring issue that has yet to be remedied. Their second unit combined for 18 points on the affair, and as a whole, the team has experienced ups and downs despite looking like true title contenders on their best day.
They’ll look to pick up a superlative win in prettier fashion behind Davis when L.A. takes on the rebuilding Detroit Pistons next time out on Monday night.
