The two friends and teammates on the U.S. gold medal-winning Olympic basketball team in Paris over the summer had a tense exchange in the heat of the moment Tuesday night, words that Lakers All Star Anthony Davis and Minnesota All-Star Anthony Edwards stood out as the drama unfolded.
Davis just scored on Edwards and was fouled on the play early in the third quarter when they came face to face with each other, neither backing down.
When asked about that exchange, Davis laughed.
“When he wanted to punch me in the face,” Davis said, smiling.
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Is that what he told Davis?
“Well, but that’s what he wanted to do,” Davis said.
Davis later said that the two are very good friends and they hugged each other after the game.
It’s just that Davis did most of the punching on Tuesday night, his play beating the Timberwolves and lifting the Lakers to win in their regular-season opener at Crypto.com Arena.
During the game, LeBron James and Bronny James made NBA history by becoming the first father-son duo to play together, but Davis was the one who delivered the big shots. He finished with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
The clash with Edwards stood out because Davis doesn’t know how to talk a lot of trash. Davis delivered an outstanding third quarter with 13 points and five rebounds.
“No, that’s my guy,” Davis said of Edwards. “I got the one-and-one and just his competitive nature, he hates … Actually it goes back to the Olympics. We talked about it and he said we’re the team he hates playing the most because we don’t let him play. We make him pass the ball and I got the and-one on him and it was just brotherly love. We call each other ‘Twin.’ Same name. Things like that, it was nothing.”
Davis ended up dismantling the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter as the Lakers tried to keep Minnesota at bay.
He re-entered the game with 7:09 left in the fourth when the Lakers’ once 19-point lead was down to eight points.
Davis immediately went to work, grabbing a rebound away from Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert.
Davis made just one of two free throws after he was fouled, but then he showed up on defense on the next play, blocking a three-point attempt by Donte DiVincenzo.
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Thus began a stretch in which Davis scored 11 of the Lakers’ next 15 points and assisted on two more points with a nice pass to Rui Hachimura.
Davis had 11 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in the fourth quarter.
“He’s the main focus for us offensively and defensively,” LeBron James said. “We’ve got to make sure we keep getting him the ball. I think the coaching staff and JJ [Redick]they do a great job of always putting him in positions where he can be the recipient of the offense. And when AD is working, it’s our job as the ball handlers to keep feeding him, finding him and for AD to do what AD does.”
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When Redick took over as head coach of the Lakers, he had a talk with Davis about being the center of the offense.
It was new for Davis because during his first five years with the Lakers, James was the focus.
Now, it’s Davis.
He said the Lakers are focused on getting him the ball at the top of the key so he can either make a play or direct the offense. He realized that he must also act as the focus of defensive pressure.
“Obviously, it’s going to grow and we’re going to integrate more things within that,” Davis said after his first night running Redick’s offense. “But, I think this is a good first step to see how he wants me to play and how he wants me to be that center and kind of orchestrate the offense.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
