Ed Davis, after Lakers’ first win: ‘Charles [Barkley], your fat a$$ can eat now’
With the Los Angeles Lakers off to their worst start in more than half a century as their combination of injuries, age, tactics and a general dearth of talent had resulted in zero victories in their first five games, TNT commentator Charles Barkley saw fit last Thursday to deliver one of his trademark bold proclamations.
“I’m going on a fast,” the Hall of Famer said during TNT’s telecast. “I’m not going to eat again until the Lakers win a game. I’m telling you — I’m not going to eat another meal until the Lakers win a game.”
Since we’d certainly never dream of insinuating that Barkley would ever say something on television with the intention of forgetting it as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, we’ll take it on faith that Chuck carried on with his promise to have nothing more than water and vodka — quoth the nutritionist: “Got to have my carbs, my protein” — throughout the weekend. After Sunday night’s matchup with the visiting Charlotte Hornets, though, Charles’ long nosh-ional nightmare has come to an end.
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The Lakers beat the Hornets, 107-92, behind strong performances from the backcourt of Kobe Bryant (21 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Jeremy Lin (21 points, seven assists, three rebounds) and solid contributions up and down the roster. Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill outdueled the Al Jefferson-led Hornets’ frontline, combining for 28 points and 11 rebounds (and Hill posting a surprising career-high seven assists). Reserve guard Ronnie Price was a sparkplug playmaker off the punch, chipping in seven points, eight assists, three steals and two rebounds in just 17 1/2 minutes.
And Ed Davis … well, he was fine during the game, scoring 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting to go with five rebounds in 22 minutes. His most notable addition, however, came after the final buzzer sounded on the Lakers’ first victory of the season:
That’s the second-most forceful delivery Davis made on Sunday. Just ask Jason Maxiell:
Lin followed in Davis’ footsteps about an hour later:
