Los Angeles Lakers: Anthony Davis dominates Minnesota Timberwolves, 4 lessons
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves behind a dominant performance from Anthony Davis. Here are some lessons learned from the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers continue to roll along. The Minnesota Timberwolves was the next victim as Anthony Davis destroyed the Minnesota front line. What AD didn’t get to, LeBron James came through with the next wave to wipe out any chance for a Lakers let down as the Lakers took their fourth game in a week.
Los Angeles has raised their level of play to just plain unfair these days. Someone needs call 9-1-1 like Wyclef, because, since one week from their last loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Lakers have run roughshod through every opponent since.
Before last week, the Lakers tried to find different ways to defeat their opponents. Now, the Lakers are trying to see how badly they can beat their opponents.
The Lakers’ win streak now stands at four games after a 142-125 beatdown of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The total is a season-high besting the season-high from the previous game against Portland.
The team followed Anthony Davis’ season-high (Like for now!) 50-point lead from the opening tip. Would you believe that there was a major debate on Twitter during the game about Karl-Anthony Towns actually being a better player than Anthony Davis?
KAT is better than AD in basically every aspect of offense except catching lobs, but the difference on defense is really stark.
— Paul Don't Lie (@PaulHeadleyNBA) December 9, 2019
This tweet is just an example of “Karl-Anthony Towns is the best big man in the league debate”. Sure he’s having a career season for the Timberwolves, but Minnesota is not a playoff team.
Anthony Davis is having a career season on the best team in the league. Another difference? The Timberwolves have now lost four straight and the Lakers haven’t lost four games YET! Plus, Towns can’t do this.
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1203869932951240705
We’ll get to AD in a second, but Towns looked soft and was a non-factor in this game. Towns had a stat line of 19 points, eight assists, four rebounds and steal. The telling stat is the four rebounds. That total shows how often he was in the paint battling the trees that make the Lakers’ front line.
The Lakers played the game without Rajon Rondo did not play because of tightness in his hamstring. Avery Bradley is close to returning for the Lakers’ upcoming trip. If the Lakers seem unstoppable now, when Bradley gets his legs under him, the defense will stiffen up and things will improve even more. He has not played since Nov. 13 because of a hairline fracture.
The win improved the Lakers record to an NBA’s best, 21-3 overall. The comparisons to the cross the hall Clippers are starting to cease as the Milwaukee Bucks look like the only competition right now.
Lake Show Life Lessons starts with some dude the Lakers got in a trade this summer. That deal turned out okay for the franchise.