For one night, the world got a glimpse of what the Lakers can be, a 48-minute taste of what’s possible. Yes, Tuesday’s 106–96 win came against the Zombie Nets, who were without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who cycled through 11 players in the first half searching for the right lineups (sorry, Blake Griffin) and needed a 33-point night from James Harden just to stay competitive.
Would L.A. have beaten Brooklyn at full strength? Who knows, but this was the best version of the Lakers we’ve seen in a while.
This Lakers team had Anthony Davis, the injury-prone big man who had missed the last 17 games with a sprained MCL in his left knee. Before the game, coach Frank Vogel warned that Davis needed a readjustment period. When it started, Davis looked just fine. He caught a lob from LeBron James 15 seconds in. He made a midrange jumper on the next possession. He checked out midway through the first quarter with six points, a pair of free throws and three blocks. Foul trouble limited Davis in the second half, but all things considered it was the best eight-points-in-25-minutes stint the Lakers could have hoped for.
