Anthony Davis turned in his best performance of the young season, with a dominant display in the Los Angeles Lakers' 120-91 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
In just three quarters, Davis stuffed the stat sheet, pouring in 40 points, 20 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and zero turnovers to lead the Lakers to their third-straight win.
His 40-20 game was the first by a Laker since Shaquille O'Neal in 2003, making him the sixth different Laker to record such a statline and in doing so in just 31 minutes, he earned him the honor of being the player with the fastest 40-20 recorded in the shot-clock era.
The only other player put up such numbers was former Laker and Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain.
.@AntDavis23 statline in only 3 quarters of action against MEM!
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) October 30, 2019
40 PTS
20 REB
26-27 FTM
Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player to record those numbers in @NBAHistory with 100 PTS, 25 REB, 28 FTM on 3/2/1962 vs NYK! pic.twitter.com/7vFv8jOu8b
Shooting 7-of-17 from the field, Davis scored a majority of his points at the free-throw line, going 26-of-27 (96.3%), setting a new franchise record in the process.
That's a franchise-record 26 made free throws on 27 attempts 🤯 https://t.co/HT8O8LJtnp
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 30, 2019
In all of their three wins of the season, the Lakers have pulled away from their opponents in the second half and today was no different.
After leading 49-47 at the half, the Lakers capped off the third quarter with a dominant 22-0 run and ended up outscoring the Grizzlies 39-20 in the period.
The @Lakers erupt on a 22-0 run to close out the 3Q!
— NBA (@NBA) October 30, 2019
💪 Anthony Davis is up to 40 PTS, 26-27 FTM (career-high), 20 REB for the #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/L8juzoRj77
Davis didn't just put up numbers, he led the Lakers to the win with his performance, scoring 16 points in that decisive 22-0 run . And he did it all, while nursing a sore shoulder.
“I’m fine. It’s still a little sore," Davis told Mike Trudell after the game.
Between both teams, it was a poor 3-point shooting and high turnover game. The Lakers shot 7-of-26 (26.9%) from beyond the arc and committed 18 turnovers, while the Grizzlies shot 7-of-34 (20.6%) and turned it over 21 times.
Davis received support from four other Lakers who finished in double figures, led by LeBron James' 23-point, eight-assist night.
On the other hand, the visitors had four players in double figures with rookie Ja Morant leading his team with 16 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.