Paul Pierce lauds Anthony Davis displaying refined version of himself on LA Lakers: “It’s just about the mentality of going out there”

Anthony Davis has been playing questionable basketball for the last couple years.LA Lakers fans have not seen the same AD that helped win them the 2020 championship until recently. The LA Lakers started this season on a disappointing 2-10 run. Then, Davis turned on the burners.

Paul Pierce joined Kevin Garnett for a conversation regarding the Lakers’ center being on a tear. The two former Boston champions know high-IQ basketball when they see it. If Davis caught Pierce’s eye, he sure is on the right path, especially if Garnett chimed in with positive comments.

With Davis’ fresh contribution, the Lakers now stand with 11 wins to 16 losses. Their last 15 games saw nine wins and only six losses.

The improvement is there. It is mostly due to Anthony Davis playing like a champion again. Barring the Lakers last performance against Cleveland, where Davis left with ‘flu-like symptoms’ and was out the following game as well, the center has been dominating.

Aside from those two games, Davis’ last five healthy performances were all above 30 points. In fact, nine of Davis’ last 12 healthy performances were all above 30 points. One of the biggest showings was AD’s 44-point night against the Milwaukee Bucks. That game showed Paul Pierce that Anthony Davis might be the only one in the league who can match up with Giannis Antetokounmpo. This is a feat that is not easily managed.

Davis finished his performance against Giannis with 44 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks. Antetokounmpo also had 40 points, but finished with only seven rebounds. AD outscoring Giannis is one thing, but out-rebounding him and finishing with more blocks is crazy.

It looks like the LA Lakers might have their old Davis back. But what changed?

Paul Pierce argues that it is more a mental thing than anything physical.

Games such as the performance we saw against the Bucks are the ones that show AD’s mentality is back in the right spot. It is starting to look like Davis has built his strength back up in every way.

Paul Pierce, the former Boston champ, outlined:

“It’s just about the mentality of going out there.”

2020 championship Anthony Davis versus this season

This season, Anthony Davis is averaging 28.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. All while shooting a career high 59.3% from the field.

During the Lakers 2019-20 championship season, Davis finished having averaged 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game.

If AD can keep up his current pace this season, he is on track to play better statistically than he did in his championship year.

In the span of his last 12 healthy performances, AD has nine games where he scored over 30 points.

For the same span during his championship season, Davis only had four games over 30.

Under both timelines, Davis has scored a 50-point or more performance as well. The domination seems to be linear, if not a little higher, this season than it was at a relative moment in his championship year.

Paul Pierce, being the high-IQ veteran he is, has elite awareness of the sport. If both he and Kevin Garnett are talking about Anthony Davis being the only guy to contend Giannis, the Lakers are in a better standing than most think.

Their last performance against Boston on Tuesday night was a large showing to that.

Though it ended in a loss, there was a point in the third period where the Lakers were down by 20. Davis and company then went on a huge 40-9 tear to take the lead before the Celtics tied and took the game into overtime.

Anthony Davis did miss two very important free throws, but he played every single minute of the fourth quarter and took the leaders of the Eastern conference into overtime.

If Anthony Davis can keep up the way he is playing, the Lakers might be in for a better season than most assumed.