The Los Angeles Lakers snapped a three-game losing streak with a narrow home win over the Portland Trail Blazers (99-94). Both teams had one superstar missing as LeBron James and Damian Lillard were out.
Anthony Davis led the winners wit 30 points and 15 rebounds, followed by Carmelo Anthony with 24 points and 8 rebounds coming off the bench. The 37-year-old veteran made 8 out of 12 shots, including 5 for 6 from the three.
“His IQ. You beat me to the punch because I was gonna hit him on his performance tonight. Because it’s like LeBron gets a lot of credit for what he’s doing in year 19 and I don’t think people are talking enough about what Carmelo is doing in year 19,” Vogel said postgame. “It really is remarkable, he was terrific tonight.
“Like AD said, obviously he was scoring the basketball but we had some coverages we were trying to work out down the stretch in the fourth and defensively he was right on top of all that stuff communicating it, just talking some of our through where they need to be and the IQ and the leadership and the desire to win, the competitive spirit was great. But his shot making is fun to watch. He’s a big part of the win tonight.”