The Lakers jumped out to a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series against the Warriors, winning Game 4 on their home court Monday night.
Anthony Davis was his usual dominant self defensively, despite not recording a single block in the game.
During a postgame interview on the court in the aftermath of the Los Angeles victory, Davis revealed that he took it personally when Golden State attempted to force him to switch onto defending Warriors star Stephen Curry late in the game.
“Man, I pride myself on defense. The Warriors wanted, obviously, to switch with me, and I took that personal,” Davis told Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet. “I know when [Curry] gets to his step-back three … I just wanted to move them puppies and keep him in front and make him take a tough shot. And that’s what I did. … I just wanted to make it tough on him and make him shoot over a contested hand and pray that he missed.”
“It was an unreal game. I love it.” @AntDavis23 enjoyed competing against the defending champs in tonight's big win. pic.twitter.com/SxI4JMyYuD
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) May 9, 2023
Curry was guarded by Davis on both of his two field goal attempts during the last 38 seconds of Monday’s game. He missed both as Los Angeles pulled away for a 104-101 victory.
Davis didn’t hide the fact that the late-game matchup against Curry had him fired up, and he delivered with big stops on each of the Golden State star’s potential go-ahead shots.
The 30-year-old Davis finished the night with 23 points, 15 rebounds and three steals, helping to overcome a 31-point triple-double from Curry.
