LeBron James and Anthony Davis were utterly proud of the Los Angeles Lakers' remarkable 20-block night against a struggling Detroit Pistons team, becoming the first team to reject 20 shots in a game since the Toronto Raptors blocked the same amount against the Golden State Warriors in 2001.
The Lakers became only the ninth team to ever do so in NBA history, a feat that had James quite impressed.
“I think it's an unbelievable feat. A remarkable feat,” said James after a 106-99 win over the Pistons, the Lakers' fifth-straight win, according to Ryan Ward of ClutchPoints. “Dwight, JaVale and AD just make it easy on us, and we try to contain a lot of these small, quick guards & a lot of these rim attackers.
“To know that you have that safety net behind you with JaVale, Dwight and AD is a heck of a luxury.”
Three Lakers had five or more blocks. Davis accounted for a season-high eight of them, leading the way for a ruthless Los Angeles team that swatted everything in sight.
Article Continues BelowAsked what sparked the defensive mentality for this team, Davis mentioned an emphasis of protecting the paint after giving up more than 60 points in the paint against the New Orleans Pelicans in the last game,
“I guess protecting the paint,” said Davis. “Last game we gave up 60-plus points in the paint, something that we don't like doing, and we tried to make an emphasis tonight on protecting the paint.
“I think our guards did a good job of not fouling and having their guards go to the rim and use their verticality and our bigs [could] come over and block the shots. So I think we did a good job of that, which led to our fast breaks. We want to protect the paint as much as possible and if teams are going to beat us, [we want to] make sure they beat us from the outside, not the inside.”
Starting center JaVale McGee finished with six blocks while Dwight Howard added five and the 6-foot-2 Avery Bradley chipped in another before leaving with a first-half ankle injury after 12 minutes.