Tag: Anthony Davis

Frank Vogel says LeBron James is playing ‘as good as I’ve seen him’

LeBron James had another amazing night as he continues to do the heavy lifting for the Los Angeles Lakers on both ends.

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There aren’t too many people in the NBA that are still coaching that have as good of an understanding of the greatness of LeBron James as Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel.

Vogel is closer than he’s ever been before, but he also had to prepare game plans in three consecutive postseasons for his old Indiana Pacers teams to try and slowdown LeBron James and his Miami Heat teams from the earlier part of the decade. After another monster performance of 33 points and 12 assists, including zero turnovers and six 3-pointers, Vogel told reporters that he believes LeBron is playing as well as he’s ever seen him.

Although James told Anthony Davis that the Lakers would play through him and the Lakers have, James is still ultimately in control of the offense and there will be nights like last night where he has it going and Davis struggled from the field.

But the Davis addition has given LeBron a new life on the court as he has an efficient scoring option to go to on basically every possession, which is resulting in the highest assist totals of his career and the best start to a season for his team since 2016 (12-2).

LeBron James drops 33 and 12 dimes to push Lakers to NBA-best 11-2

LeBron James was dominant and the Los Angeles Lakers now have the best record in the NBA after winning their fourth straight game.

The Los Angeles Lakers looked great in white on Sunday as they wasted no time imposing their will against second year dynamo Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks. LeBron James was dominant in all areas, finishing with 33 points and 12 assists, as well as six 3-pointers and 0 turnovers, leading the Lakers to a dominant win 122-101 over Atlanta. The Lakers led by as many as 30 points in the victory.

Sunday’s win was their fourth straight and with the Lakers at 11-2, they now own the best record in the NBA after the Boston Celtics lost to the Sacramento Kings earlier Sunday. Anthony Davis was mostly quiet offensively but he did provide some great blocked shots while Rajon Rondo had his best individual performance in his first four games with 15 points. Kyle Kuzma also had 17 points and five rebounds off the bench, including a sweet alley-oop finish off an assist from LeBron James.

Starting in place of the injured Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope once again performed well as the team’s starting shooting guard while Danny Green did his usual solid job across the board and threw in a highlight dunk to add to what was a special night for the Lakers in an another easy home win.

Trae Young still got loose to score 31 points, but the Hawks scoring totals were more of a result of the game’s pace being a slightly faster pace than the Lakers are used to playing than it was a reflection of the Lakers team defense. They were solid once again and they forced 16 Hawks turnovers in the win.

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LeBron James daps up Kobe before hitting 3 in dominant Laker 1st half

LeBron James met up with Kobe Bryant as the Los Angeles Lakers had a great start Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Lakers fans had a Sunday of their dreams, especially in the first half of their game against the Atlanta Hawks. After celebrating Anthony Davis with some cognac last night, LeBron James and the Lakers burst out to 69-41 lead at halftime that included some incredible moments.

It began with Lakers legend Kobe Bryant being in the building as he promotes a new project and LeBron James went over to dap him up while he sat court side. James would immediately hit a 3-pointer for the Lakers, one of two 3-pointers and 17 points in the half and a monstrous plus-minutes of +41.

That wasn’t even the best highlight for the Lakers, however. After Atlanta briefly cut the Lakers lead to 10 points, the Lakers regained control to close the half but nothing made the Hawks look done more than an incredible tip-slam from Danny Green that made Dwight Howard lose his mind and the Lakers crowd go wild.

James also showed off his passing once again as he continued to build on his league-leading assist total.

The Lakers look well on their way to a 4th straight win, which would give them the best record in the NBA.

LeBron James, Lakers celebrate Anthony Davis Haute Living cover

LeBron James, Anthony Davis and a few others celebrated the occasion at a party with some of the world’s most expensive cognac.

If the Los Angeles Lakers come out to a strong start tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, perhaps they can credit a night of hanging out and sipping on extremely expensive cognacs as a key to their success.

LeBron James one of a few Lakers teammates to join Anthony Davis at a celebration his a cover story about him in the luxury magazine Haute Living, where they were honored by the magazine and then gifted some Hennessy XO as well as Louis XIII, a cognac that goes for over $3,000 in some places online. Avery Bradley and DeMarcus Cousins were some of the other Lakers in attendance at the event, according to photos.

(Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Haute Living)

Times are good with the Lakers and the drinks were flowing last night. Davis spoke earlier this week about making sure to have fun in every game with LeBron James, but the time off the court appears to be pretty fun as well.

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AD block on Barnes clean but missed foul on LeBron in win over Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers came out with a win on Friday night but the NBA’s last two-minute report said they missed an offensive foul by James.

The Los Angeles Lakers escaped with their third straight victory on Friday night after squeaking out a 99-97 victory over former coach Luke Walton and the Sacramento Kings. A huge block by Anthony Davis appeared to be the most controversial play of the night as he made a little contact with Kings forward Harrison Barnes, but the NBA’s review of the last two minutes from Saturday found something else wrong with the end of the game.

According to the league, LeBron James should have been called for an offensive foul on what would be a game-winning foul call on Barnes with five seconds left. James would make both free-throws and win the game for the Lakers.

The NBA has focused in on offensive players initiating contact with their off-arm all season long, calling several players who use that move for offensive fouls. The Lakers certainly got a little lucky on Friday with the call considering how much they’ve tried to call it, but it’s also somewhat of an accepted truth that officials usually let things go in the closing moments of a game.

Anthony Davis on LeBron telling him to be No. 1 option: ‘Let’s have fun’

The Los Angeles Lakers stars have managed their partnership very well and are succeeding, which is leading to a much happier Davis.

Basically everything for the Los Angeles Lakers has gone according to plan this season and some things are succeeding more than anyone could ever foresee this early in the season. But one of the pivotal moments of the Lakers season happened months before when LeBron James told Anthony Davis he wanted Davis to be the team’s No. 1 scoring option.

The results have been incredible with Davis averaging 25 points per game and James leading the NBA in assists through the first 12 games. Earlier this week, Davis described when LeBron approached him and how it caused him to change his outlook on the upcoming season in an interview with The Athletic/Stadium’s Shams Charania.

Transcribed by Christian Rivas of Silver Screen and Roll

“It was tough because I had done it in New Orleans, but that was because it was like ‘AD you have to.’ Now it’s like, ‘well all right, we’re gonna split this 50/50. And when (LeBron) came he was like ‘nah, this is yours. I’ll play the second guy. We’re going through you.’ … And then it’s the Lakers … There’s a bigger spotlight, the media is bigger, ‘does AD have what it takes?’ … I really had to really wrap my head around ‘this is going to be a fun year. It’s not going to be tough, it’s not going to be hard, it’s going to be fun. Let’s have fun with it.’ So I tell him all the time, ‘most importantly, no matter what we do, let’s have fun. Let’s enjoy this.’”

So far this season has been one long exercise in the Lakers rediscovering fun on the court and for their fans. After the last time things went when the Lakers were told “this is going to be fun,” Davis’ embrace of that mindset heading into the season and LeBron’s embrace of setting the table for him is a refreshing change for the Lakers after six dormant seasons for the NBA’s glamour franchise.

Lakers look to continue winning ways against Hawks, Trae Young

The Los Angeles Lakers host one of the most exciting players in the game when they play Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.

The Los Angeles Lakers are back on the court Sunday night as they host an exciting Atlanta Hawks team that just came off an awful loss last night against the Clippers.

Trae Young had 20 points for the Hawks last night but they lost by 49 points, which means they’ll likely be much more focused for tonight’s game after getting embarrassed the night before. Young will be a challenge for the Lakers defense as his high pick-and-roll game is one of the most lethal in the NBA, even though he’s just in his second season.

Without Avery Bradley, Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will likely take the difficult task of guarding Young during the game but the Lakers team defense will be called upon, which shouldn’t be too big of an ask considering the Lakers are the best defense in the league.

Their size should be enough to disrupt what Atlanta is trying to do offensively with Young, especially because the Hawks are pretty inexperienced or not very good elsewhere on the team. Defensively, the Hawks also have trouble stopping people which should make for a great night for LeBron James running the show.

Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. PDT at Staples Center.

LeBron James tweets support for Colin Kaepernick before open workout

LeBron James sent his support for former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick before his open workout in the Atlanta area on Saturday.

LeBron James, like many in the sporting community and those who have become invested in the story of Colin Kaepernick and his exile from the NFL, expressed his support for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback before taking part in a workout on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta that was initially scheduled by the NFL.

Teams are reportedly in Atlanta for the workout, which just began a few minutes ago in metro Atlanta after originally being scheduled for the practice facility of the Atlanta Falcons. Concerns about an uncommon waiver from the NFL and a lack of media availability pushed Kaepernick’s reps to move the workout to another location. Several NFL scouts were spotted at the workout location on Saturday.

But no matter what happens on Saturday, and whether the NFL is truly serious about giving Kaepernick a chance, LeBron James wanted Kap to know that he’s special regardless what happens.

Obviously James and several football fans would love to see Kaepernick back on the field, only six years removed from playing in a Super Bowl, especially as back-up quarterbacks have seen the field in astonishing numbers this NFL season. But even if he doesn’t, James wants Kaepernick to know that his sacrifices were worth it no matter what happens next.

 

Anthony Davis’ big block at buzzer proves pivotal in pushing Lakers past Kings

Anthony Davis’ big block on Harrison Barnes at the buzzer proves pivotal in pushing Los Angeles Lakers past Sacramento Kings.

Anthony Davis is dominating the paint defensively for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Despite missing a game against the Golden State Warriors earlier this week, Davis is leading the NBA with 33 blocks on the year. He is the only player in the league averaging as many as three blocks per game as well, and none of those rejections would prove to be more critical than the one he offered last night.

With 5.5 seconds remaining, the Lakers were clinging to a 99-97 lead over the Sacramento Kings as Bogdan Bogdanovic inbounded the ball while being guarded by LeBron James. Harrison Barnes would receive the inbounds pass, fake a hand-off back to Bogdanovic, and attack the right block for a layup. Just as Barnes made his move to the basket, Davis darted over from the opposite side of the paint and fully extended with two hands to devour the shot attempt as the game clock expired for his fourth block of the night.

“The one thing we wanted to do was force him inside the 3-point line,” LeBron James said while describing the final defensive sequence of the game on Friday. “Two didn’t hurt us, they make a two we call a timeout to see if we can win the game, if not go into overtime.

“So we played it to perfection by making him go inside the line. Then when you have a shot-blocker the caliber of A.D. protecting the rim, it just made it a lot tougher on Harrison.”

The Lakers are now leading the NBA as a team with 7.3 blocks per game which is an improvement of nearly two blocks per night over last season. That work around the rim has not only helped build a 10-2 record thus far–which is currently the best in the Western Conference–but also a league-leading defensive rating of 99.8 that appears to be sustainable moving forward.

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LeBron James hits clutch free throws to put Lakers past Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers earned their third straight victory thanks to 29 points and 11 assists from LeBron James on Friday night.

LeBron James had 29 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to their third-straight victory — a 99-97 win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Thanks to a valiant effort from an undermanned but energetic Kings squad, the Lakers barely escaped.

Seven straight points from Bogdan Bogdanovic brought the Kings to 97-97 with just under 20 seconds left, leaving the Lakers and James with the final possession. The Kings’ Harrison Barnes was called for a reach-in foul on James with 5.5 seconds left. James made both free throws, leading to a final play for the Kings. Barnes couldn’t convert on the final lay-up attempt to send the game to overtime, however, thanks to an incredible defensive stop by Anthony Davis.

For much of the early going in Friday’s matchup, the Lakers appeared a little sluggish. But the Lakers closed the half with a fury, capped off by a dunk from James over Kings forward Nemanja Bjelica. Following the half, the Lakers rode that momentum and amassed a four-point lead after three quarters.

James was the catalyst for the Lakers all night long, scoring more than usual while assisting at his regular league-leading rate. With Davis back in the lineup, James once again enjoyed an efficient source of assists offensively and the safety blanket defensively that The Brow provides.

Still, even though the two stars played well, they were unable to pull away from a scrappy Kings team that came into Friday having won four of their last five games. The Kings had a lead midway through the fourth quarter, putting the Lakers on their heels on their home court.

James came out firing in the early going of the final period.

Up by three points, James missed a 3-pointer for the Lakers and then Howard was called for a loose-ball foul with 3:54 remaining. Richaun Holmes made two free throws to cut the lead to one, which was followed by a Lakers basket.

The Kings went to Holmes again, who was guarded by Alex Caruso, but drew a three-point play on LeBron James to tie the game at 90 with 3:25 left. A 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who had a huge fourth quarter, put the Lakers ahead. Caldwell-Pope had scored four points after three quarters but finished with 16 points.