The two friends and teammates on the U.S. gold-medal winning Olympic basketball team in Paris during the summer had a tense exchange in the heat of the moment Tuesday night, words that Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis and Minnesota All-Star Anthony Edwards meant while the drama was unfolding.
Davis had just scored on Edwards and was fouled on the play early in the third quarter when they came face-to-face with each other, neither backing down.
When asked about that exchange, Davis laughed.
“When he wanted to punch me in the face,” Davis said, smiling.
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Is that what he told Davis?
“Naw, but that’s what he wanted to do, though,” Davis said.
Davis later said the two are very good friends and they did hug each other after the game.
It’s just that Davis did most of the punching Tuesday night, his play knocking out the Timberwolves and lifting the Lakers to a win in their regular-season opener at Crypto.com Arena.
During the game, LeBron James and Bronny James made NBA history by becoming the first father-son duo to play together, but Davis was the one who delivered the big blows. He finished with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
The clash with Edwards stood out because Davis is not known to talk much trash. Davis delivered an outstanding third quarter with 13 points and five rebounds.
“No, that’s my guy,” Davis said about Edwards. “I got the and-one and just his competitive nature, he hates … Actually it goes back to the Olympics. We talked about it and he said we’re the team he hates playing the most because we don’t let him play. We make him pass the ball and I got the and-one on him and I was screaming at him and it was just brotherly love. That’s my guy. We call each other ‘Twin.’ Same name. Stuff like that. So, it was nothing serious.”
Davis finished dismantling the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter when the Lakers were trying to keep Minnesota at bay.
He re-entered the game with 7:09 left in the fourth when the Lakers’ once 19-point lead was down to eight points.
Davis immediately went to work, grabbing a rebound away from Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert.
Davis made just one of two free throws after he was fouled, but then he showed out on defense on the next play, blocking a three-point attempt by Donte DiVincenzo.
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Thus began a stretch in which Davis scored 11 of the Lakers’ next 15 points and assisted on two more points with a nice pass to Rui Hachimura.
Davis had 11 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in the fourth quarter.
“He is the main focal point for us offensively and defensively,” LeBron James said. “We got to make sure we continue to give him the ball. I think the coaching staff and JJ [Redick], they do a great job of always putting him in positions where he can be the recipient of the offense. And when AD has it going, it’s our job as the ball handlers to continue to feed him, find him and for AD to do what AD does.”
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When Redick took over as head coach of the Lakers, he had a talk with Davis about being the hub of the offense.
It was new for Davis because during his first five years with the Lakers, James was the focal point.
Now, it is Davis.
He said the Lakers are focused on getting him the ball at the top of the key so that he can either make a play or direct the offense. He noted he’s also supposed to serve as the focal point of defensive pressure.
“Obviously, it’s going to grow and we are going to integrate more things within that,” Davis said after his first night running Redick’s offense. “But, I think this is a good first step of seeing how he wants me to play and how he wants me to be that that hub and kind of orchestrate the offense in a sense.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.