After the Los Angeles Lakers took a 3-1 series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, they had the opportunity to win their first playoff series since 2020. However, they lost soundly in Game 5 in Tennessee, and although they returned home for Game 6, there was a good deal of anxiety about that contest.
LeBron James still wasn’t himself after returning from a right foot injury a few weeks earlier, and some weren’t sure if this new-look Lakers team had what it took to knock off a feisty Grizzlies squad.
Luckily, Anthony Davis showed quite a deal of feistiness himself in Game 6.
He came out with a ferocity defensively and on the boards that Memphis simply couldn’t match. The superstar big man had 10 rebounds and three blocked shots in the first half alone as Los Angeles built a 59-42 halftime lead, and by then, the Grizzlies were done.
But Davis added some frosting afterward by converting an alley-oop dunk right in the face of Memphis big man Jaren Jackson Jr., who had just been voted the Defensive Player of the Year.
Davis scored only 16 points, but his five blocks and 14 rebounds helped hold Memphis to 30.2 percent field-goal shooting and cemented a 125-85 Lakers victory.
On that night, he proved that he didn’t need to have a great offensive outing to make a massive impact on a basketball game.