The Los Angeles Lakers failed to return to the .500 mark in a 132-125 loss to the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. Anthony Davis made headlines during the loss for numerous reasons, one of which was highlighted by a 5–of–21 shooting performance. But Davis also finished the night with a triple-double, tallying 15 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high 11 assists.
After the game, Austin Reaves was asked about Davis’s play and was quick to defend his teammate while pushing back on the negative narrative that seems to loom over him constantly.
“I can already see the headlines, you know, ‘AD sucks, AD can’t do this, can’t do that.’ He had a tough night shooting the ball, other than that, he was fantastic,” Reaves told the media after the loss to the Jazz.
“Like you said, 11 assists, a triple-double from the gate they were doubling him, he was making the right play … I thought he played a great game other than struggling shooting the ball.”
Davis’s struggles shooting the ball were an issue on this night, but Reaves isn’t wrong that Davis was excellent in numerous other areas, including totaling six blocks. The 30-year-old big man did had six turnovers on a night when LeBron James was sidelined with an ankle injury.
Along with Davis, D’Angelo Russell raised more than a few eyebrows with his performance in the loss. Russell tied his season-high for minutes in a game with 41, a number previously hit once this year back on Sunday, Nov. 29. He poured in an impressive 39 points on 57.7% shooting from the field and 54.5% from beyond the arc while adding on eight assists.
