Anthony Davis: ‘Adversity’ will be good for winless Lakers

It’s not time for Team Tinseltown to panic, according to Anthony Davis.

After Tuesday’s practice, the Los Angeles Lakers star forward addressed some of the concerns surrounding the team’s 0-3 start.

“Obviously, there’s some sense of urgency,” Davis said after practice in preparation for Wednesday’s road game against the Denver Nuggets. “You don’t want to dig yourself too big of a hole. But we’ve got to stay even-keeled. We can’t get rattled or flustered and things like that. Just like if we win 12 in a row. We don’t want to get too high.”

AD’s optimism is reminiscent of what he said last season after the Lakers sputtered to a 10-11 start. At the time he said, “we could go on a 10-game winning streak, 12-game winning streak, now the narrative is different.” 

Last year’s Lakers did win six of their next eight after Davis made these comments, but failed to qualify for even the play-in tournament after the forward and other key pieces went down with injuries.

This season’s start is perhaps even more concerning for the team. Los Angeles is just one of only four winless teams. Despite the Lakers’ rought start, Davis said he was hopeful that the early pressure will mold resilience.

Anthony Davis USA TODAY Sports

“We think all this ‘adversity’ is going to be good for us,” Davis said. “We’re glad it’s happening in October and not March or April. But we’ll make shots, continue to defend how we’re defending and try to go in [Wednesday] and Friday and get a win.”

The Lakers have struggled to shoot the ball. They currently rank dead last with a 21.2 percent shooting percentage and also hold the NBA’s worst overall field goal percentage. Davis could not deny that his team’s shot selection must improve if they are going to compete. 

“Down the stretch, our shot selection was very poor,” Davis said of the Lakers’ fourth-quarter execution in their 106-104 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. “We’ve got to get good shot selection.”

Davis did give some compliments to his team’s performance. Specifically, he lauded the defensive effort, but did not deny there is work to be done on the other side of the court.

“We’re continuously learning each other,” Davis said. “The good thing about is we’re playing defense, ranked third in the league in defense. In all the statistical categories, we’re top-10. We just got to keep pushing. Keep our head down and move forward with the mindset we’re going into Denver tomorrow to get a win.”