Lakers Notes: Anthony Davis, LeBron James, West Semis

Star big man Anthony Davis suggested the Lakers weren’t all that bothered by the trash talk from the Grizzlies during their first-round playoff series.

“People are going to talk,” Davis said, via Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation. “We’ve had some trash talk on the court in the series, but all the talk in the media and all that stuff, we just go out and let our game talk and play basketball. We try not to get in a back-and-forth with guys. Obviously, that’s how a lot of times guys kind of get themselves going. When guys are constantly talking, & you don’t say nothing back… they’re going to eventually stop.”

The Lakers treated Game 6 as if it were a deciding game in the series in pummeling the Grizzlies by 40 points, star forward LeBron James added, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“It was definitely a Game 7 mentality for us,” James said. “We understood that we had an opportunity to play in front of our fans, and we wanted to try to end it tonight.”

• James won the 40th playoff series of his career in the victory. “He’s playing with a sense of urgency,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said beforehand, via McMenamin. “He knows there’s only so many more of these [postseason runs] he’s going to be able to participate in. So he’s definitely been in the moment.”
• Davis added that he always impacts the outcome defensively at the very least. “I can’t control the ball going in the basket every time, but on the defensive end, I can control a lot of things,” Davis said, via McMenamin. “And that kind of just fuels the offense. No matter what I’m doing, I want to be able to leave a mark on the game defensively now.”
• The Lakers next meet the winner of the Kings-Warriors series. “We stay in the same time zone,” James said, via McMenamin. “We stay in the same state. It’s an hour flight to each place, less if it’s Sac, a little bit more if it’s to the Bay. So that definitely helps.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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