Long before Kobe Bryant grudgingly attended the Los Angeles Lakers’ free agent pitch meetings for Dwight Howard in 2013 and LaMarcus Aldridge in 2014, he identified a rare talent who could eventually want to inherit the mantle Bryant left with the franchise.
Bryant was the elder statesman on the 2012 Olympic team that won a gold medal in London. Anthony Davis was its young buck. The best college player and recent No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft was added to the roster for his own basketball edification, though not expected to contribute much.
But Bryant saw something in the lanky 19-year-old, and when he ran into Davis’ parents at the team hotel, he let them know he would be looking out for their son.
“When we first got there,” Anthony Davis Sr. told ESPN, “Kobe came over to us and said, ‘Mr. Davis, I got your boy with me. I’m taking the young fella under my wing. He’s going everywhere I go this whole Olympics.’ And that’s what he did. Wherever Kobe went, Anthony went.'”
Davis even tweeted about it.
Getting this history lesson on 80’s music by @KingJames @carmeloanthony and Kobe!!
— Anthony Davis (@AntDavis23) July 28, 2012
Over the years, their relationship grew behind the scenes. Bryant would make a point of saying hello to Davis’ parents whenever the Lakers played in New Orleans. He’d stay in touch with Davis via text, too.
There was never an ulterior motive to Bryant’s mentorship, Davis’ father said, never a recruiting pitch to join the Lakers. Bryant simply recognized a young player yearning to be great and wanted to nurture that. He did that with several players in the latter part of his career.
Bryant was always bracingly clear about his feelings on recruiting for the Lakers. The player worthy of taking the torch from him and leading the Lakers would need no sales pitch. He’d want that challenge. No, he would need that challenge. If Bryant had to convince him in a free agent meeting, the player wasn’t right for the job.
It took a long time for Davis to decide he needed that challenge. Then it took an ugly series of trade negotiations with the New Orleans Pelicans for the Lakers to finally fulfill his wish in the last offseason.
But Davis continues to make good on Bryant’s faith in him throughout these playoffs. In the Finals, Davis is averaging 33 points and 11.5 rebounds. After he scored 32 points on 15-of-20 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Lakers’ 124-114 Game 2 win over the Miami Heat on Friday, the Lakers are now just two wins away from their 17th NBA title.
“We came in tonight and said this is a must-win for us. We’re going to come in the next game and say it’s a must-win, and the next game it’s a must-win and so on and so forth,” Davis said.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Davis is now the fifth player in Finals history to tally 30 points, 10 rebounds and 75 percent shooting, joining Lakers greats Shaquille O’Neal (twice in 2004) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971) and Boston Celtics Hall of Famers Kevin McHale (1985) and Larry Bird (1984).
Friday night, Davis was absolutely dominant against the short-handed Heat, who were missing their best defender, center Bam Adebayo (shoulder), as well as one of their leading scorers, point guard Goran Dragic (foot).
Davis scored on half-court lobs from Rajon Rondo. On alley-oops from LeBron James. On offensive rebounds. Against the Heat’s zone defense, he hit 9 of 14 shots. He was 8 of 10 when creating his own shot and 7 of 10 off teammates’ passes. Miami threw six different defenders at him, and he scored on all of them except Andre Iguodala.
Davis was so good Friday night, he and James were fielding postgame questions about how they compare to Bryant and O’Neal as all-time great Lakers duos.
“In high school, watching the Kobe-Shaq duo was the most dominant duo that I have personally seen in my life from a basketball perspective,” said James, who had 33 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in his 21st Finals game with 30 or more points. “Obviously we knew the force that Shaq brought to the table, but the elegance and force that Kobe played with, as well.
“They were very dominant in what they did on the floor, on both sides of the floor. It’s very humbling that we can be even mentioned with those greats.”
Said Davis: “They are the best duo we’ve seen. Multiple championships. They both were so dominant…
“But you know, those two guys were selfless. They both had a competitive spirit with themselves to will their teams to win. I think me and Bron are the same way.
“When you have two guys who want to win as bad as we do and want to be dominant every single game, you have games like tonight where two guys, we’re able to score the basketball and able to rebound and able to find guys. It’s rare you see it. We know we have something special with us two and this team, and just trying to capitalize on it.”
2:15
Anthony Davis speaks on the comparison he and LeBron James get to the duo of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
The Lakers are now 20-1 when Davis and James combine for 60 points, which is tied with O’Neal and Bryant (1999-2000) for the best record in a season by teammates in NBA history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Golden State Warriors were 26-2 when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 30 points in 2015-16 and 18-2 when Curry and Kevin Durant did so in 2016-17. Unsurprisingly, each of those duos won a championship that year.
Davis and James still need two more wins over the Heat to finish this season with a championship. And Miami made it clear in the second half of Friday’s game that it won’t go easily.
After the Heat trailed by 14 at halftime, franchise icon Dwyane Wade tweeted, “All we wanna see is some fight. Let’s go. Keep playing.” Then elder statesman, Udonis Haslem lit into the team with a fiery speech during a timeout, and the Heat rallied to score 39 points in the third quarter and make it competitive in the fourth.
But Miami will have a hard time coming back if Dragic and Adebayo aren’t able to contribute at some point. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday that there is “hope” Adebayo can play Sunday in Game 3 of these Finals.
“We’re never giving up. We’re going to fight and we’re going to ride with this thing until the wheels fall off. It’s not over,” said Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who finished with 25 points and 13 assists in 45 minutes. “We’re just down 0-2, so we got to do something special. We’re capable of it and I wouldn’t want to be in the trenches with any other guys except for the ones that we have.”
Offense wasn’t the issue for the the Heat Friday as Miami became the first team to lose a Finals game after hitting at least 50 percent of its field goal attempts (36-of-71), 40 percent of its 3-point attempts (11-of-27) and 90 percent of its free throws (31-of-34). Kelly Olynyk scored 24 for the Heat in Game 2 while rookies Tyler Herro had 17 and Kendrick Nunn chipped in 13.
But Miami simply couldn’t stop Davis, James and the Lakers, who were sharing the ball at a record-breaking pace — according to Second Spectrum, their 403 passes were the fourth most in a playoff game since tracking began in 2014 — and hitting over 50 percent from the field (49-97) including 34 percent on a NBA Finals record 47 3-point attempts.
It’s a challenge the Heat will have to figure out — and fast.
“They have great size and Anthony Davis is an elite player,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’re trying to get something accomplished and you just have to go to another level. That’s the bottom line.
“We don’t give a s— what everybody else thinks. What will it take? Whatever is necessary. It’s simple as that.”