After the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, they secured the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
During the first half of the game, however, it seemed that the Lakers were on the way to a loss. They faced a 13-point deficit at the break, which they eventually erased thanks primarily to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin offered a possible explanation behind the Lakers’ second-half explosion.
New video: Juan Toscano-Anderson and Jordan Poole helped get LeBron James and Anthony Davis going with their trash talk on Wednesday, adding intrigue to an already intense play-in game between the Lakers and Warriors. My mini essay for @sportscenter pic.twitter.com/hbd4gq8oZ9
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 20, 2021
The Warriors’ second-year players Juan Toscano-Anderson and Jordan Poole had a couple of run-ins with James and Davis. McMenamin pointed to these incidents as what fueled James and Davis to turn up their games in the second half.
Davis also addressed the trash talks after the game.
“You never want to poke the bear,” the Lakers forward said. “I told Jordan Poole that, too. When we both got the double techs, I came down and hit the midrange and I said, ‘You done woke me up.’ Anderson did the same thing with Bron. We’re confident enough in our games, and especially when we’re struggling, you never want to poke the bear. That’s playoff basketball. We love it.”
With the win, the Lakers will next face the Phoenix Suns in the first round instead of playing another play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
