ORLANDO, Fla. _ Anthony Davis couldn't sleep. He lay in his bed here at the Gran Destino Tower, tossing and turning, trying to leave behind a night when he made eight of 24 shots, didn't assert himself like he could have and his team lost in his first playoff game as a Laker. As he fought the insomnia, he knew exactly who would have helped him.
Kobe Bryant.
"I thought about: What would he say to me in this moment if I could text him and ask for his advice?" Davis said. " 'What did you see on the floor?' What would he say? And the only thing I came up with that I know he would say is, 'Play harder. Leave it out on the floor. Did you play hard in Game 1? Did you leave it out on the floor in Game 1?'"
Bryant was the first NBA player to have mentored Davis, and Davis was the only player Bryant mentored before he retired from the NBA. It was a relationship that began when Davis was a teenager on the 2012 Olympic team. They stayed close throughout the years. Though Bryant never recruited Davis to the Lakers _ that just wasn't his style _ he was excited to see what Davis could do for the franchise that meant so much to him.
He often told Davis, "Go out there and kill. No one can stop you." Davis took that mentality into Game 2 and produced a dominant performance.
They are fond memories that Davis still thinks about constantly. He isn't alone in his remembrance of the Lakers giant who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26 along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others.
"Not a day goes by that we don't remember him," Davis said. "We don't forget what he's done for this organization and for the world.
"... Now we have the opportunity to finish this season off and make him proud. We know that's what he would want. He would want us to go out there and compete and bring another championship home. Any time we step on the floor we play for his memory."
