2024-10-26 16:20:04
Anthony Davis is the 3rd Laker with back-to-back 35-point games to open a season, joining Elgin Baylor (1962-63) and Jerry West (1969-70).
LOS ANGELES —The most overused two words spoken during the first week of every NBA season — it’s early — must be repeated here if only for the sake of context:
The Lakers appear to be a decent enough team.
Through two games they’ve squared off against a pair of projected Western Conference contenders and did more than hold their own; they dominated during stretches and sealed the deal.
Beating the Suns on Friday night followed an opening win over the Timberwolves, and the unbeaten Lakers are feeling frisky and good about themselves. And perhaps for good reason.
Anthony Davis is healthy and beastly, LeBron James here in his 22nd season once again shows no signs of deep aging, and few flaws are surfacing.
Down 22 early, Los Angeles stormed back to beat Phoenix 123-116 and improved to 2-0 to open a season for the first time since 2010-11. Here are five takeaways from a feel-good victory that puts the Lakers atop of the West (at least for now; it’s early):
1. Redick might be ready for the job
He arrived with a coaching resume lighter than the supermodels who sashay around Crypto.com Arena and yet, based purely on how the Lakers are performing in his system, JJ Redick looks, shall we say, experienced?
There is a noticeable chemistry and cohesion to the Lakers, especially offensively. The ball is shared and the scoring is balanced. The supporting players around LeBron and AD seem confident and purposeful.
“The other night we played his game plan to a T and trusted his defensive schemes. Tonight was a different type of game,” said Davis. “Down 22, that’s when the trust has to really kick in, the coaching has to kick in. J comes in at halftime, telling us ‘we’re alright, settle down, we know what we’re doing wrong.’
“Him not panicking makes us not panic and we’re able to walk them down and eventually take the lead. We’re trusting what he’s doing.”
Austin Reaves outplayed Devin Booker, took him off the dribble and dropped shots from deep (5-for-7) to score 26 points. Rui Hachimura had moments for the second straight game. And the bench produced.
About Reaves, Redick said: “I knew he was a good player before I took this job. I didn’t realize he was this good.”
2. Davis looks unstoppable again
For the second straight game Davis was the power source offensively, scoring 35 points against the Suns after opening the season with 36.
Aggressive and forceful, Davis is option A and it’s a role both he and the Lakers are embracing.
“The positions where I’m getting the ball, it’s effective,” he said. “And when my teammates are playing well it opens the floor and opportunities for me.”
He also exploited the Suns’ most glaring weakness — their lack of quality size. Jusuf Nurkic had four turnovers, four fouls and one basket against Davis and was on the bench in the fourth quarter. The Suns were forced to use Kevin Durant, who rarely guards centers, on Davis instead.
The blueprint for this Laker season is being revealed, and it has Davis penciled in as the main event.
“He has a comfort level and a confidence level in that if the game starts getting wacky, the ball is coming back to him,” said Redick.
The Lakers are 2-0 under new head coach JJ Redick, with Anthony Davis serving as offensive and defensive hub on the floor.
3. Suns and defense are still under development
Mike Budenholzer is coaching the Suns because the club constantly collapsed defensively last season under Frank Vogel.
Well, the Suns can change the coach, but until they either find better defenders or develop a better defensive mindset, that side of the court might still be problematic.
They surrendered 71 second-half points to the Lakers and a team with such certified scorers as Durant, Booker and Beal couldn’t keep up with that pace.
When the shots aren’t falling for the Suns, they’re vulnerable until further notice. They started the game with blistering shooting, going 11-for-14 on from deep. But when they cooled and finished 6-for-26, their defense couldn’t save them.
This could ultimately determine their fate in the West, which is loaded. They were swept last spring in the first round by the Timberwolves because they struggled to score. And if the Suns find themselves engaged in a defensive battle, that’s probably trouble.
4. LA, the sports epicenter
Biggest cheer of the night came when the Suns hit a third-quarter 3-pointer. The reaction wasn’t for the shot, of course. It was at that precise moment when Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series.
Friday was a surreal night in LA, filled with sports events. There was Lakers-Suns, the World Series, USC-Rutgers, a pair of big high school football games and also a concert at Intuit Dome.
As a result, it was a traffic armageddon, even by LA standards. Not only did most of the events start roughly within an hour of each other, they also ended within that amount of time. So, a snarl.
Or — this was good prep for what’s coming at the 2028 Olympics.
5. Two Jameses still on the roster, for now
When the Lakers schedule was announced, it fell in place for Bronny James almost as neatly as the Draft. That’s because the road game in Cleveland would be early enough in the season — Wednesday, actually — to warrant him playing in his other “home” town.
So it’s very likely that after this upcoming six-game road trip and that stop in Cleveland that Bronny will likely get sent to the South Bay Lakers of the G League for developing.
This is not all that unusual for a 55th pick to open the season in the NBA, get a taste of that life, then spend most, if not all, of the rest of the season in the minors.
After playing three minutes in the season opener, Bronny notched a DNP against the Suns. When he goes to the G League, the real drama will begin, because that level is loaded with starving dreamers who lack the options Bronny is blessed with if basketball doesn’t work out.
If Bronny doesn’t stand out in the G League — and remember, he struggled in NBA Summer League — will the Lakers bring him back?
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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