Anthony Davis stays hot, scores 35 as Lakers improve to 2-0

LOS ANGELES – After scoring at least 35 points in his second straight game to open the season, leading Los Angeles to a 123-116 victory over the Phoenix Suns and a 2-0 record, Anthony Davis was asked if he could name the two. other Lakers greats matching his fiery start.

It took him six wrong guesses – Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, James Worthy and LeBron James – before he got it right.

“Jerry West?” Davis asked, correctly naming the Hall of Famer who opened the 1969-70 season with 39 points in his first game and 42 in his second.

James, standing at his locker next to Davis, helped the big man with an assist in identifying the other.

“Elgin,” James said.

“Elgin Baylor,” Davis continued, mentioning the forward who started the 1962-63 season with 71 points in his first two games, matching Davis’ total.

It’s been an eye-opening launch for Davis, who, at age 31 and in his 13th NBA season and sixth with the Lakers, finally appears positioned to take the torch as the team’s best player.

“It’s very important that he’s the main focal point for us every single night,” James, 39, said after finishing with 21 points and eight assists. “We know what he’s going to do defensively, but offensively we have to find him in several places on the floor throughout the game. And we’ve done that through two games.”

James, a 22-year veteran, isn’t exactly admitting he’s slowing down, though. Look no further than his response to being asked if he wanted to play Saturday the second night of a back-to-back against the Sacramento Kings for proof.

“I plan to play every game (this season),” James said. “We’ll see what happens if I don’t.”

The Lakers battled back from an early 22-point deficit against the Suns, with Davis, James and Austin Reaves (26 points, 8 assists, 3 steals) leading the way.

“What he’s done is kind of unreal, obviously, but I expect him to dominate the game in a lot of facets,” Reaves said of Davis. “I’m just lucky to have him as a teammate.”

And Lakers fans, it seems, should feel lucky to have JJ Redick as their coach.

You’d have to rattle off as many names as Davis did — Darvin Ham, Frank Vogel, Luke Walton, Byron Scott, Mike D’Antoni and Mike Brown — before mentioning the last coach to lead the franchise to a 2-0 start: Phil Jackson in 2010-11.

Redick, like the rest of the team, passed the credit on to Davis.

“There’s an intent to have (Davis) involved as much as possible,” Redick said. “We recognize the type of player he is and that he can create mismatches… There’s a comfort level and a confidence level that he has, so if the game starts to get crazy, he knows the ball is going to come back to him. … The ball has to find him.”