A flu-ridden Anthony Davis helped the Los Angeles Lakers earn a 105-96 road win Tuesday night against Denver, earning plaudits from his grateful teammates.
LeBron James called him the “defensive player of the year,” while Rajon Rondo added that Davis should also win MVP while he’s at it.
AD held Nuggets center Nikola Jokic to 13 points in the victory.
Per The LA Times:
“Hey sick man!” LeBron James hollered across the locker room. “You all right? Ready? You waiting for me?”
Even being sick is more fun coming off a win.
“He’s been doing it all year,” James said of Davis. “Playing through injuries, playing through illness like he did tonight. Defensive player of the year and he showed tonight once again playing one on one versus Joker in the post. When there were switches going on with Jamal Murray, playing one on one versus a small. Got stop after stop after stop. Just a monster game for him.”
As he came off the court during a timeout in the fourth quarter, Davis was crowing about his expectation that he would be first-team all-defense this year. His teammates respectfully disagreed.
“I got him as MVP and defensive player of the year,” Rondo said. “So, if he only gets one, I’ll be [angry]. My expectations are really high for him, so we have to continue to win as a team and hopefully the rest of the world will understand and see that he’s a really big part of why we are who we are.”
Related LeBron James: Anthony Davis ‘Right There’ as Defensive Player of the Year
