Anthony Davis says he loved working with Kobe Bryant on Olympic team - Los Angeles Times
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Anthony Davis says he loved working with Kobe Bryant on Olympic team

Lakers star Kobe Bryant, left, and New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis talk while sitting on the bench during a game at the 2012 London Olympics.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
By Mike Bresnahan
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Reporting from New Orleans â€”  Anthony Davis might be the NBA’s best power forward but he wasn’t much of a factor on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

Nobody played fewer minutes than him. Nobody scored fewer points.

But he got to know Kobe Bryant and called him a “great guy†when asked about it Wednesday.

“That whole Olympic experience, he kind of took me under his wing and showed me a lot about the game and a lot about hard work,†said Davis, the only college player on a team that beat Spain in the gold-medal game.

“He’ll bring the competitive nature out in everybody,†he added. “Any good team that has Kobe on the team is in it to win it. That was my first time [meeting him]. I loved every moment of it.â€

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The Lakers play New Orleans on Wednesday. Davis is averaging 24.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots per game for the Pelicans.

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Mike Bresnahan

Mike Bresnahan previously covered the Lakers for the Los Angeles Times. He started the beat in 2004, a month after Shaquille O’Neal was traded, and covered several seasons of mediocrity before the Lakers won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. Now they’re back to mediocrity. Bresnahan is from Los Angeles, started with The Times after graduating the University of Wisconsin in 1994, and has also covered the L.A. Kings, pro beach volleyball and numerous colleges and high schools. He left The Times in 2016.

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