Lakers: Carmelo Anthony Says Detroit/LA Fight United The Team
The Lakers overcame a large deficit, a LeBron James ejection, and some fireworks last night to beat the Detroit Pistons 121-116. If you were not on this planet yesterday and missed it, here it is again.
The scuffle ended with the Lakers losing James for the evening, but LA fought hard to win the game. The Lakers outscored the Pistons 37-17 in the fourth quarter. This was the fight (sorry) the Lakers may have needed to play with some passion. Carmelo Anthony certainly contributed to the win, scoring 18 points on 5-8 shooting. Talk about efficiency. The effect of the fracas was not lost on Anthony either, who agreed the game acted as a catalyst.
"We understood and we saw what was happening. ... I just felt like we all needed to come together, and we all needed to believe in the bigger picture."
The bigger picture is a pretty wide zoom if we're being honest. This is a roster constructed to win on the strength of their collective experience (which is a nice way of reiterating how old they are) and superstar skill set. When your team leader (James) is ejected, it falls on the rest of the team to come up big. Russell Westbrook, Anthony, and Anthony Davis certainly came up big in different parts of the game. Look at this god-like sequence from Davis.
Davis played perimeter defense, interior defense, and interior offense within one short sequence.
Anthony's leadership has been appreciated, but it's safe to say not many expected his numbers to be this good. He's shot at an elite level, has played much better defense than anyone expected, and just his presence has spread the floor. The Lakers are going to need him down the stretch, and if last night truly did 'light a fire' for the Lakers, bring it on.
