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Anthony Davis led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 110-103 defeat over the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener on Tuesday night. Davis scored 36 points and added 16 rebounds, four assists, one steal and three blocks in an all-around tremendous effort. The Lakers star had a great offensive game, but his defense was quite impressive as well.
“Defensive Player of the Year type of stuff,” Davis said after the game of his defensive effort, via Spectrum SportsNet.
Davis then looked at the camera and smiled. He clearly believes in his defensive prowess and displayed his ability against the Timberwolves. The fact that Davis made his comment after defeating the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, is especially attention-catching.
One of the primary storylines from Tuesday's game was LeBron James and Bronny James making history by playing together as a father-son duo. It was a special moment to say the least. However, Anthony Davis' elite effort stole headlines in the end.
Anthony Davis explains Lakers' success against Timberwolves
The Lakers scored 110 points. They had some quality offensive moments. However, LA's defense stepped up against a Timberwolves team with scoring potential.
“Communication,” Davis said of what he liked about the Lakers' defensive performance as a team, via Spectrum SportsNet as well. “We emphasized communication today, going to take everybody.”
Davis mentioned how talented of a scorer Anthony Edwards is, and the Lakers knew they needed to pressure him. In the end, the Lakers wanted to make things difficult for the Timberwolves overall.
“We just wanted to show him (Edwards) a crowd,” Davis continued. “Make it tough for all of them…. They made some big time shots, but we wanted to make them take contests twos, contested threes and I think we did a good job of that. We still could be better defensively.”
Anthony Davis and the Lakers did a good job of defending Anthony Edwards. Edwards still scored 27 points on 10-25 shooting from the field and 5-13 shooting from beyond the arc, but he had to take plenty of contested shot attempts.
The Lakers are now 1-0 to begin the new season. LA is hoping to make the playoffs this year rather than the play-in. Doing so will be difficult in the talented Western Conference, but defeating legitimate contenders like the Timberwolves will only help matters for LA.
