Sophia Michaels
The Lakers and Timberwolves met on Sunday night at Staples Center in a battle between the NBA’s best team and a Minnesota team hoping to land a playoff spot in the ultra-competitive West.
Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns was the marquee matchup of the evening, and it was the Lakers big man that got the best of the showdown, putting 50 points on the Wolves in a tremendous performance to go along with seven boards, six assists, and four blocks in a 142-125 win.
Davis was a ridiculously efficient 20-of-29 from the field, and made all 10 of his free throw attempts en route to his 50-burger. He feasted inside, with no made threes on the night, attacking the rim and, even when he was impeded, making nearly everything he threw at the rim, like this shot for his 49th and 50th points on the evening.
Davis proved to be a major problem for the Wolves in transition or the halfcourt, getting where he wanted nearly at will, with some help from slick passes by Alex Caruso, LeBron James, and others.
James kicked in 32 points and 13 assists on the night to help Davis as the Lakers offense was unstoppable. L.A. hit 58.5 percent of its shots on the night, including 45.2 percent from three-point range, aided by a scorching 6-of-8 night from deep by LeBron.
The Lakers certainly look the part of a title contender, and even with lofty expectations for the LeBron-AD pairing, the duo have exceeded what most thought they’d look like so early in the season. Their chemistry is tremendous in the pick-and-roll game, and the insistence of LeBron that he would be ceding alpha status on the offensive end to Davis has turned out, for now, to be true (and working). It’s not as though James has taken a backseat, he just merely doesn’t have to do all of the heavy lifting for the Lakers and that seems to be giving him a little extra burst on both ends to take over when the situation merits it.
Written by: Uproxx
