Lakers News: How Anthony Davis Anchored LA's Defense Against Minnesota

Your Los Angeles Lakers have taken quite the leap since being six games under .500 near the trade deadline. They finished the season with a 43-39 record overall.

They seemed like a shoo-in to win their play-in battle with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, given Minnesota's litany of major absences. Instead, the Timberwolves started out hot, and got off to a 60-49 first half start. LA rallied to take a three-point lead with 0.1 seconds to go (thanks to a huge Dennis Schroder triple), which is when Anthony Davis made a costly error.

Davis had a big night, and beyond one huge defensive gaffe, performed fairly well, scoring 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting, grabbing 15 rebounds, and nabbing three blocks.

He led LA's defensive efforts, which came in huge during the bout's fourth quarter, limiting the Timberwolves to just 12 points. It would have been nine, had Davis not weirdly opted to foul Mike Conley shooting a three with 0.1 seconds remaining in regulation. But the team redeemed itself in overtime, closing out the game by outscoring a spent Timberwolves club 10-4 in the overtime frame. The final score: 108-102.

Davis spoke with Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet about how his defense helped turn things around for Los Angeles.

"My job is to lead this team defensively and that's what I wanted to do and it kind of got us going." @AntDavis23 with @LakersReporter on tonight's play-in win, his foul on Conley in regulation and more. pic.twitter.com/G2uEv6jPAh
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 12, 2023

"I think to start the game, KAT got going, I think just my pressure on him [in the fourth quarter]," Davis. "Just being physical with him, it kind of set the tone... We should have had it in regulation, it took us another five minutes to do so. My job is to lead this team defensively and that's what I wanted to do and it kind of got us going."

Now, Davis and co. will face off against the Memphis Grizzlies in a 2-7 first round playoff matchup, which kicks off on Sunday.

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