Anthony Davis reacts to Russell Westbrook's strong performance from bench in LA Lakers win: "That's truly a guy who's doing whatever his team asks"
LA Lakers superstar forward Anthony Davis had some high praise for Russell Westbrook on Sunday. Davis' words came after the Lakers registered their first win of the season by beating the Denver Nuggets 121-110 at Crypto.com Arena.
Westbrook, who came off the bench for the second consecutive game, had 18 points, eight assists and eight rebounds on 50% shooting in the contest.
Following the win, Anthony Davis told the media:
"I just told him honestly, before I walked in here, I said, 'The way you are playing, the way you handling everything, it's tremendous.'
"The way he played in Minnesota, the way he played tonight, it's unbelievable. To be a player of his caliber, and asked to come off the bench, that's truly a guy who's doing whatever his team asks.
"To get a win, sacrifice his starting position for the betterment of the team. He's flourished in that role. That's all we can ask for."
AD went on to add:
"I told him, 'Just keep doing what you doing man. Everything you doing, it's unbelievable.' Last two games, he's just been doing his thing. Proud of him. Obviously, it's a tough pill to swallow but he's been locked in. Accepting his role. And that's for all our guys on the team."
"The way he's handling everything is tremendous." - Anthony Davis talks about a high-caliber like Russell Westbrook coming off the bench. https://t.co/cp0I5irMs3
LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook power LA Lakers to first win of 2022-23 season
While Russell Westbrook finished the game with an overall plus-minus rating of plus-18, he did not have to do all the heavy lifting for the LA Lakers.
LA received quality contributions from Anthony Davis and LeBron James as well. Davis had 23 points and 15 rebounds against the Denver Nuggets while shooting 56 percent. James finished with 26 points and eight assists, and even shot at 40 percent from the 3-point line.
The Lakers as a whole were much better from beyond the arc, knocking down 13 attempts from deep at 43.3% accuracy, both season-high figures.
Anthony Davis, who appeared to reinjure his back during the game but continued to play despite being in some pain, said after the contest:
"We needed this [win] for our team, our spirits, our fans, our organization. This is a team that just beat us. To come out and show what we are capable of, this has got to be the start of a run for us.
"It felt good to get that monkey off our back and get a win in the win column and try to get this thing going."
The Lakers won the game despite trailing the Nuggets 75-83 with about 3:45 left to play in the third quarter. They then outscored their opponents 46-27 for the rest of the win to register a much-needed victory.
Davis was complimentary about the team's resolve when they were trailing and said:
"Keep fighting. We know we're the worst third-quarter team offensively in the league. We didn't want to come out - play a great first half and come out in the third quarter and let it slip away.
"But we stayed the course. Got back to what we do defensively. Cut it down and got the lead going into the fourth [quarter]... When we play defense like that, we are a tough team to bet, but today we made shots. Today we made shots and we were able to get this win."
"We needed this [win] for our team, our spirits, our fans, our organization." - @AntDavis23 (23 points, 15 rebounds) speaks with @LakersReporter about #Lakers getting their first 'W' and dealing with his back injury. https://t.co/kgw13EkANO
Next up, Anthony Davis and the LA Lakers will take on the New Orleans Pelicans on Nov. 2.