Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons in a survival of the Boston Celtics!

The Los Angeles Lakers welcomed back AD and more importantly…His aggressiveness!

It’s understood that the Lakers will go as far as the two superstars go in Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Both have the ability to take over games which gives the other enough room to operate on a basketball court.

But sometimes the consistency of the offensive execution does not allow things to run smoothly for the Lakers every night. Take this “Homecoming” trip for example. The offense allowed players from the roster to shine in their hometowns.

• Anthony Davis got his turn in Chicago along with Talen Horton-Tucker.
• LeBron James got his turn in Cleveland.
• Kyle Kuzma got his showcase in Detroit.

But it can throw off the rhythm of Anthony Davis. When that happens, he’s not aggressive and tends to float on the perimeter.

Anthony Davis returned to the lineup after sitting out with a quad contusion. The word of the day was “Aggressive” according to both AD and Frank Vogel via ESPN.

Anthony Davis:

"“For me, personally, it’s getting back in attack mode,” Davis said. “Being aggressive. Crashing the offensive glass. Being in the paint. All those types of things. Everything that I did tonight.”"

Frank Vogel:

"“He’s built up. He’s getting into that mode right now. He’s starting to pick it up. The injury set him back a little bit. … But we want him to be assertive. And when he’s assertive on both sides of the ball, we’re very difficult to beat.”"

The Lake Show Life Lessons series has been on record saying this as far back as the bubble last year. If the Los Angeles Lakers have any chance to repeat, they need an aggressive Anthony Davis…Period.

But it was how he read the matchups that were impressive in this one. Instead of wasting dribbles against smaller players, he just shot over the top.

When Vogel gave him a mission to punish the smaller Celtics frontline on the glass, he did that by just positioning himself at the front of the rim.

In this game, as soon as he touched the ball, he was attacking. Davis finished with 27 points (11-25 shooting!) and 14 rebounds (Vogel should be thrilled with 6 offensive boards!), with 2 assists and 2 steals.

Based on this interview if the Lakers had lost, some might have been walking to Atlanta because AD would have been in a bad mood!

While AD played the lead role, LeBron James contributed big in times where the Lakers needed him. It happened, especially in the last quarter. Read on to see how he did.