Lakers News: Anthony Davis Elevating His Game With LeBron James Out

Can he keep this up?

Your 4-10 Los Angeles Lakers have had a fairly up-and-down season thus far. The team kicked off the season on a five-game losing streak, cobbled together a two-game mini-winning streak, promptly went on a five-game losing streak again, and are now riding high on a second two-game mini-winning streak as of this writing, with potentially more victories on the way as L.A.'s schedule eases up.

Across his past three games without James, Davis is averaging 33 points on 57% shooting from the floor and 84.6% shooting from the charity stripe, 16 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.3 blocks, and one steal per game.

In his last two games -- both Lakers wins -- scored more than 35 points and grabbed more than 15 rebounds, making him the first Laker to do so since a certain Big Diesel many moons ago. Davis had a 37-point, 18-rebound double-double on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets, followed by a 38-point, 16-rebound double-double against the Detroit Pistons. That puts him in heady Lakers terrain, per NBA.com:

Anthony Davis is the first Laker to record 35+ points and 15+ rebounds in back-to-back games since:

Shaquille O’Neal: 01/04/2000 – 01/05/2000 https://t.co/0368a167aS pic.twitter.com/7SzTvXYAzM

— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 19, 2022

Not too shabby. 

Davis's jumper may not be falling quite as accurately these days, but he appears to have adjusted. Over the past two seasons, AD has significantly cut down on the amounts of shots he attempts from beyond 10 feet.