Anthony Davis praises ‘elite’ defensive gameplan coaching staff vs. Wolves

The offense draws people to the game, but the Lakers’ defense electrified the crowd in Tuesday’s win against the Timberwolves.

Offense dominates conversations in basketball, but defense is equally as important.

So, while topics such as how many threes the Lakers would take or using Anthony Davis as an offensive hub have dominated the news, it was the defense that got the team their first season-opening win since 2016.

Los Angeles forced Minnesota into 16 turnovers, scoring 19 points on those changes of possesion. The Lakers kept the Timberwolves out of the paint, dominating inside 72-40 and for a little razzle-dazzle, AD had some Defensive Player of the Year caliber blocks.

The Lakers got the job done, beating the Timberwolves 110-103 and after the win, Davis discussed how the focus was where it needed to be for the team.

“I think we were very prepared tonight,” Davis said. “Like I said, we executed the game plan to a T. I’m not gonna tell you the game plan because I know Minnesota will probably be watching this to figure out how to beat us next time. But, our game plan was elite and we executed it and were able to get the win.”

L.A. took control early in the second quarter, going on a 21-6 run and never looked back. Despite the Lakers shooting 5-30 from 3-point range, they were able to crash the glass and prevent the Timberwolves from scoring as Minnesota struggled to crack the century mark.

After the game AD pointed out the defensive game plan of the team as the biggest standout in the victory.

“For a team that averaged 120 [points per game] last year and holding them to 103, our defensive game plan,” Davis said. “We executed and were just trying to figure out ways to manipulate the game. [We] made it tough for Ant. He made some good looks. But for the most part, I think we just made it tough for him, making him shoot contested twos and threes. I think that our effort and energy coming out was really phenomenal and we just kind of sustained that for 48 minutes.”

Anthony Edwards certainly had a lackluster game by his superstar standards. The Timberwolves guard still managed to score 27 points but did so on 10-25 shooting. The Lakers made him work for every point he got.

Even Rui Hachimura, a player known for his offensive ability on the wing, was stressing the defensive performance of the entire unit.

“I think defense” Hachimura said. “It was defense. We were more locked in on the defense, especially Anthony Edwards. He was iso’ing the ball…We were trying to help each other and we got defensive rebounds and we’re just running around. And our fastbreak was amazing too. I think that that was the key.”

It’s always encouraging when different players are saying the same thing after a game. It demonstrates that everyone is on the same page and focused on what the task at hand is and how to get the job done.

JJ Redick is now 1-0 as an NBA coach and spoke glowingly about his team’s ability to walk the defensive walk after talking and planning for days on how they were going to slow Minnesota down.

“Our guys really did a phenomenal job of executing our game plan,” Redick said postgame. “We installed a lot in the last three days and it was a little bit opponent-specific. But it was also just, we had 21 days of preseason to get all of our installs in. So we kind of delayed installing some stuff and we practiced it, we walked through it, we did some more today. That’s really encouraging as a coach and for our coaching staff that our guys can pick stuff up and then go execute it, not on the fly, but after having just a few reps.”

Redick made his name in basketball thanks to his 3-point shooting. As a coach, in his first game, it was the team’s defensive prowess that stood out.

We’ll see if it continues when the Phoenix Suns come to town on Friday.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.