Podcast: Are Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis starting to figure some stuff out?

There might not be nearly as much competition as their fans might like, but the Los Angeles Lakers just grabbed easily their biggest win of the season. More importantly, they were driven to victory by both Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis. Now, the focus turns to replicating that chemistry both in the immediate future, and whenever LeBron James returns.

So to start this week’s episode of “I Love Basketball,” Sabreena Merchant and I marveled at the fact that we both actually love basketball tonight.

The overriding theme from this one is to basically enjoy the win for what it was. Sure, there were moments of frustration and yes, the Lakers refuse to make anything easy, but a 120-117 overtime win against that Miami Heat team under these circumstances is an accomplishment. Period.

And beyond even the fact that the Lakers grabbed this win, the game itself was delightful. Sabreena and I spent quite a bit of time just reminiscing about how much fun the game was, with the cherry on top being that the Lakers won.

Wednesday night’s victory honestly came down to a few guys: Westbrook and Davis (obviously), and Malik Monk, who thrived in a backup point guard role because there was enough creativity around him to make up for his lack of creative chops as a lead ball-handler.

Speaking of lead ball-handler, Sabreena and I both noted our favorite moments on a night where Russ and AD clearly took steps forward. Progress is never linear, and there is going to have to be another stretch with hiccups, but tonight felt bigger than just the plays Westbrook and Davis made together.

While it’s easy to get ahead of ourselves after a big win, it’s also important to enjoy and take note of progress as it happens. That very easily could’ve been a frustrating home loss. Let’s just enjoy the fact that they got the victory.

You can listen to the entire episode below, and to make sure you don’t miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.