The NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers evened their playoff series with the Phoenix Suns at one game apiece on Tuesday behind clutch performances from Anthony Davis and LeBron James in a 109-102 win.
After scoring just 13 points in the Lakers’ 99-90 loss in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round Western Conference matchup, Davis admitted he blamed himself. In Phoenix, he made up for his previous misdeeds.
Contents
The 34 Points Davis Scored Came Alongside 10 Boards, 7 Assists, And 3 Blocks.
He vowed to play with “more energy, more effort on both ends of the court” and “to make a statement” in this game.
After losing both of their road games, the Los Angeles Lakers finally managed to win with LeBron James’s help, thanks to his 23 points, four boards, and nine assists.
The dynamic combination accounted for 16 of the Lakers’ final 18 points as Los Angeles staved off a late charge by the Suns, who were once again mostly without veteran point guard Chris Paul, who was still clearly suffering the affects of a right shoulder injury suffered in Game 1 and exited early.
To celebrate its first home playoff game in over eight years, Los Angeles defeated Phoenix 109-95 on Thursday night behind 34 points and 11 rebounds from Davis and 21 points and nine assists from LeBron James.
With this triumph, the seventh-seeded defending NBA champions grabbed a 2-1 lead in the first-round series, and the championship core played in front of their home crowd for the first time in a postseason game. Dennis Schröder scored 20 points.
Davis said the support was “good for us, good for our squad,” and that he appreciated the chants. We can’t even begin to fathom what it’ll be like when there are 20,000 people here. The noise and energy levels remained high. I just know it’s going to be even better after we pack the stadium with raucous fans.
In the second half, the Lakers drew away from an unpredictable Phoenix team, much to the delight of their supporters. Davis had another great game for the Lakers.
It’s a lovely thing,” James remarked. “We just wanted to play the game the correct way and repay our fans for the commitment they have shown us on this great night.” Davis winced as LeBron James assisted him on a dunk. Following the timeout, Davis was seen pacing around the Lakers’ bench and bending his knees. Davis continued to play despite further embarrassing missteps.
Last Words
In any case, Lakers supporters yelled their jeers and heckles whenever Crowder performed poorly. Crowder scored five points despite shooting poorly (one field goal in eight attempts, zero three-pointers in six attempts). And when James got an offensive penalty on Crowder by taking a charge at halfcourt almost halfway through the fourth quarter, those Lakers supporters cheered, too.
