The mood around the Lakers hasn’t been so good since 2020, when they won their 17th NBA championship in the Orlando bubble. After years of misery, the Purple and Goldonce again look like a dangerous team.
Rob Pelinka deserves credit for fixing the roster just before the trade deadline, but it’s safe to say nothing would be possible without LeBron James or Anthony Davis. The pair has been in great form recently, and their team is certainly enjoying it.
Los Angeles finished the regular season strongly and started the postseason even better, taking down the Timberwolves to clinch the 7th seed before beating Memphis in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. AD, however, insists that the role players will be key to theirplayoff run.
Anthony Davis says role players will be key to the Lakers’ aspirations
“Guys make the right plays, and it’s our job as the guys’ to continue to make the right plays and trust our guys. Obviously it happened quickly for us,” Davis said, via Lakers Nation. “It had to happen quickly for us because of the circumstance that we were in. But it means a lot to those guys too. When you come in — like the shot Dennis (Schroder) made against Minnesota. (LeBron) could’ve gone up and shot the fade away, but he kicks it to Dennis and he makes a three. It gives those guys confidence that we trust them, and we do trust them to make the right play.When you’ve got a lot of guys who are in it for each other and want to win, then everybody’s on the same page and it doesn’t matter who scores as long as we score the basketball and continue to make the right plays.
“It also puts the other team on notice that you have to guard these guys. They make shots and they make plays, and now it’s tougher to double because you’ve got guys that — if they double — they’re going to make shots and make the right play. Game 1 is always kind of a feel-out game to see what’s going on and we made a lot of right plays tonight on both ends of the floor. We’re going to continue to trust these guys. I think championships are won, and games are won, when the role players play well.”
Davis is speaking like a true leader, who puts the team first and motivates his teammates by emphasizing on how important their contribution is to the team. The Lakers might bebuilding something special, and they are definitely a team to watch in the playoffs.