Austin Reaves thinks Anthony Davis’ feel, IQ is ‘close to second to none’
When it comes to Anthony Davis’ game, Austin Reaves thinks the mental aspect helps just as much as the physical.
The Lakers recent road trip was overwhelmingly positive, with the team winning five of a possible six games. The only blemish was a 109-90 defeat against the Pacers.
The loss was a wasted opportunity to extend their winning streak and come away perfect during this voyage East, but even in defeat, the game was a reminder of how good Anthony Davis is.
He ended the matchup with 24 points and 15 rebounds, leading Los Angeles in both statistical categories. After the game, Austin Reaves shared what makes Davis so good.
"It's IQ and feel," Reaves said. "I think his feel for the game is close to second to none. Just knowing where rebounds are coming off, knowing how to get into the right pocket on pick-and-roll situations. Like you said, his IQ, that all kind of goes hand-in-hand. Just knowing the game, knowing how people are going to defend him and passing out of doubles, all that. Him doing all that is really nothing new to me."
Reaves has only known the NBA life alongside Davis and that pairing has helped him tremendously. Davis provides an elite rim protector, helping Reaves defensively. Also, with Davis' improvement passing out of double-teams, he can trust that if he's open, Davis will find him.
"I just enjoy being his teammate," Reaves said postgame. "Obviously, he makes life so much easier for everybody on the court. But for me, I don't want to say more than anybody but it makes my life feel much easier when he's on there on the court just because of his dominance of the game on both ends of the floor. You can be more aggressive on-ball when you're guarding the ball knowing that he's weakside. Then offensively, with Bron and AD, those are probably the top two guys on everybody's scouting report. Any time you put them in actions and make defenses second-guess getting back to them because that's probably what you should do, it just makes life easy. I don't really expect anything less. He continues to do it over and over again."
With Davis playing at a Defensive Player of the Year level and Austin Reaves coming to his own, the Lakers are playing their best basketball.
They still have work to do, stuck in the ninth spot in the West, but with the team's current chemistry and success, regardless of their position in the standings, no one is going to want to play this iteration of the Lakers in the postseason.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.