Davis to propel Lakers to play-offs

LOS ANGELES • LeBron James and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers paid tribute to Anthony Davis in the biggest possible way on Tuesday night.

Since arriving from the New Orleans Pelicans last summer, he has had a transformative effect on the National Basketball Association (NBA) team.

Not only are the Lakers on the brink of sealing a play-off berth for the first time since the 2012-13 season, they are, in the eyes of analysts and bookmakers, also favourites to capture their 17th championship.

None of this would have been possible had they not traded Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round draft picks for Davis.

The forward had one of his best showings in the purple and gold jersey – 37 points and 13 rebounds, both game highs, two blocks and four steals in the 120-107 home win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

His partner-in-crime, LeBron James, contributed 22 points, 14 assists and seven boards to help the Western Conference-leading Lakers (47-13) to their ninth victory in 10 games. But it was the Davis show as far as he was concerned.

Calling him “a generational talent”, the three-time NBA champion said: “A.D. was going nuts.

“It was fun. It’s everything I expected and more. Obviously, that’s why I wanted him here.

“When you got an opportunity to get him, you just try to do whatever you can to get him. I gave my opinion on what I thought he could bring to this franchise. I gave my thoughts about the player – but not only the player, the person.

“Ultimately, they made the decision to do what we did in the off-season. It’s no surprise to me. I already knew how incredible the guy is.

“He had (over) 50 in the (2017) All-Star Game. You know, 30s, 20s, 40s and 20s he had when he was with the Pelicans and just doing the things he was doing at that size, there’s not too many guys who have done that in this league.”

Teammate Dwight Howard, who had 11 points off the bench, also believes Davis has given “LeBron new life”.

“Well, A.D. has had an effect on James,” the centre said. “The way that he’s playing, now James’ saying, ‘I got to step my level of play up because A.D., my running partner, every night he’s there.'”

And if anyone thinks Davis, who is a front runner for Defensive Player of the Year honours, has reached his peak, Laker coach Frank Vogel feels he will only show his true form in the post-season.

“You’ve seen a little bit of a different Anthony this whole season than we’ve seen in his prior stop in New Orleans,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s different today than it’s been most of the season.

“Ultimately, we’re going to see it when we get to the play-offs.”