In the never-ending battle between arrogant celebrities and the simping, self-loathing journalists who truckle to them, one finds it difficult not to root for the meteor.
At a press conference on Monday night following his team’s 101-99 loss to the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets, nine-time All-Star center Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers delivered a curt reply to a reporter’s question about “what happened” on Denver guard Jamal Murray’s game-winning jumper.
“Jamal Murray made a shot,” an irritated Davis said. In apparent disgust, Davis then dropped the microphone on the table in front of him, stood up and walked away.
NBA TV posted a 16-second clip of the incident on the social media platform X.
In fairness to Davis, at the beginning of the clip a faint female voice said “last question.” The press conference, therefore, would have ended at that point one way or the other.
It ended, however, with a foolish question framed in a characteristically servile manner as if calculated not to offend.
“Can you take us through that last play and just what happened, what unfolded. What was — I, I don’t know if you were screened or what happened on that last play?” the reporter asked, using 31 words where the last six would have sufficed.
Then came Davis’ irritated rejoinder about Murray’s made shot.
Anthony Davis: “Jamal Murray made a shot.” pic.twitter.com/jsiYMmSa8p
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 23, 2024
Do you think the Lakers will get swept?
In light of how the game ended, Davis had good reason to feel frustrated.
With the score tied at 97 and only 47.7 seconds remaining, a LeBron James layup gave the Lakers a 2-point lead. Eighteen seconds later, however, Murray shook both James and Davis to get open for a mid-range jumper that tied the game at 99.
Then, after James missed a 3-point attempt, Murray drilled a contested, fade-away jump shot from the right baseline as the buzzer sounded to win the game.
Readers may view the thrilling finish in the video below.
INSANE FINAL MINUTE IN DENVER. 🤯#PLAYOFFMODE IN FULL EFFECT. pic.twitter.com/60cuQJYcUu
— NBA (@NBA) April 23, 2024
With the victory, the defending champions took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-7 Western Conference first-round series. The teams will face off again in Game 3 on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Davis had an outstanding Game 2 overall, finishing with 32 points on 14-of-19 shooting. He added 11 rebounds.
Murray, on the other hand, struggled for most of the night, finishing with 20 points on 9-of-24 shooting. In the game’s final 30 seconds, however, he made both of his high-pressure attempts.
Ironically, both Davis and Murray starred for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, though not as teammates.
Davis won the 2011-12 NCAA championship with the Wildcats and then immediately jumped to the NBA, where he has averaged 24.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game during an illustrious career that includes a 2020 NBA championship.
Murray, meanwhile, entered the league in 2016 and developed into a consistent perimeter scorer, as well as facilitator. Notably, his assists-per-game have either remained steady or improved every year of his career. And he finished as the second-leading scorer for the 2022-23 NBA champion Nuggets.
Davis, of course, was in no mood to reminisce — or to talk about much of anything — after his fellow former Wildcat’s game-winning performance on Monday.
In fact, at no point during his four-minute post-game interview did Davis warm up to the tedious task of answering reporters’ questions.
Readers may view that full interview below. Note that at the 3:26 mark a female voice said “last two,” meaning that only two questions remained. Davis, therefore, knew that he only had to endure two more questions before the press conference mercifully ended. He did not cut it short in frustration.
On the whole, without making mountains of molehills, the press conference hardly represented the NBA or humanity at its best.
Davis, for one thing, could barely hide his contempt for the reporters. He no doubt felt disappointed after the loss, and he might have felt irritated by the same old postgame questions. Still, while generally civil, he made no effort to give the reporters anything that would help them do their jobs. It seemed he could not be bothered.
Likewise, the reporter who asked the verbose and truckling “what happened, what unfolded” question about Murray’s game-winning shot should have known that Davis would regard such a question, framed in such a way, as foolish — particularly in light of the fact that nothing unusual occurred on the final play.
As Davis said, Murray made a shot.
