Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons from Anthony Davis’ record setting night vs Memphis Grizzlies

We share four lessons learned from a record-setting night in the Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Los Angeles Lakers started slowly against the Memphis Grizzlies as the 3-point shooting was non-existent. Then Anthony Davis made his claim again as the MVP and the best player in Los Angeles by setting team and NBA records along the way.

Anthony Davis almost did not play in this game. Let that sink in for a second. When Davis walked into the Staples Center, there was a 50-50 chance that he would sit this game out.

Whoever made the decision to let him play in this game deserves employee of the month. Anthony Davis set team and NBA records as he showed dominance not seen in a Lakers uniform since the first preseason game against Golden State.  

Here’s what’s scary. He was even more dominant in this game and he has an injured right shoulder. After carrying the Lakers in a slow start against the Hornets dropping 25 points in the first half, he did the same thing against the Grizzlies scoring 20 points by halftime. More on his performance later.

Another strange fact in this game was the Lakers were down 15-2 to the Memphis Grizzlies. Yes, the Memphis Grizzlies, that are in the middle of a youth movement led by Ja Morant. The only reason NBA fans outside of Tennessee even pay attention to the Grizzlies is Andre Iguodala, a player that the Clippers and Lakers want as the missing piece to their rosters.

Lakers fans can sit back and rejoice because their team actually walked into an NBA arena with significantly more weapons than their opponent. It happened Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets and boy was it evident in this game.

For the second time in as many games, the Lakers, with the exception of Anthony Davis, coasted through the first half. After Anthony Davis hit a buzzer-beating layup before halftime, the Lakers turned on the switch in the second half and the game was over.

The caption here says a lot about how things were going at this point. Davis had already collected a game’s worth of stats with his double-double and the Grizzlies were in the game.

It’s not known what Frank Vogel said at halftime, but defense probably was the message mentioned to his roster. It is known that the speculated message was received because the Lakers were all over Memphis basically for the rest of the game.

The Los Angeles Lakers had a defensive streak that was so dominant, it has to be broken down in sections just to appreciate it.

After being behind 68-67 in the third quarter, the Lakers went on a 22-0 run to end the quarter and the Grizzlies’ hopes.

It was part of an absurd 29-2 run that extended to 37-4 into the 4th quarter putting the game away with a 120-91 victory. In between Anthony Davis’ ridiculous night and the best defensive effort seen in about 10 years, this team now has a switch they can turn on like the old Lakers to blow teams out of the building.

If defensive performances like this keep up and Frank Vogel figures out his rotations while getting players to sacrifice, this team is dangerous.

Let’s talk about Lake Show Life Lessons. This one is going to be fun.

Anthony Davis has just won the Western Conference Player of the Week. Oh, the week isn’t over? Who cares! 

Forget the headline. Anthony Davis might be the player of the month based on his performances over the last two games. AD is doing his load management the way NBA players did it back in the day. He just destroys teams in three quarters and sits out the rest of the game when the game is no longer in doubt.

Remember, Anthony Davis has an injured right shoulder. The man could have scored 55 or maybe 60 points had he played the last quarter. He would have scored or got fouled. In short, Memphis couldn’t stop him.

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Davis played three quarters (He tied the Grizzlies in scoring in the third quarter with 20!) and dropped 40 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Out of those 20 rebounds, he grabbed eight offensive rebounds, which is remarkable. He found time to block two shots and dish out two assists. Wanna see one? No NBA team has a power forward that can make passes like this. None.

Anthony Davis seals his man off in the post and draws two players to him and tight-ropes to the line under the basket and delivers a perfect pass to JaVale McGee for the slam dunk.

It’s one thing to have the strength to move Jae Crowder around and it’s another to have the athletic ability to finesse the ball around Jonas Valanciunas. Kristaps Porzingis might be known as the “Unicorn” but the Lakers really have one in Davis.

All of this was done in less than 31 minutes (30:34 for you counting at home!). That is an NBA record during the shot-clock era. It’s something about Lakers players that put up numbers so quick. The last player that had numbers at such a quick clip was Elgin Baylor who put up 46 points and 22 rebounds in 33 minutes.

Anthony Davis’ numbers were a display that hasn’t been seen in 16 years. The last player to put up a 40-20 was Shaquille O’Neal back in 2003 when he scored 48 points and collected 20 rebounds.

Davis set a Lakers record for the most free throws (26) in Lakers history, topping his teammate Dwight Howard, who had 25 back in the 2012-13 season. AD didn’t miss any of his 18 attempts in the third quarter that led the Lakers outscoring Memphis by 19 points. Since Davis had that bad night at the line against the Clippers when he shot 9-of-14, he has missed only one free throw since.

The crowd showered him with MVP chants. Right now he’s a front-runner. He was that good.

LeBron James did something in this game for the first time in his career, he played Robin.

This is not a slight against LeBron James. This is a major compliment here. The Los Angeles Lakers have to run the offense through Davis for a chance at the NBA Finals. Sure LeBron James said that the offense would run through AD in the offseason, but that’s not always a guarantee during the season.

For the last two games, LeBron has made it a point to get AD in rhythm to set the tone that has dominated two teams. LeBron James scored 23 points and dished out eight assists. Most of them were on pocket passes like these.

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The pick and roll game with these two players is amazing. Looking back at the Clippers game on opening night, the Lakers completely abandoned the pick and roll only running it once the entire game. Since then, the Lakers made adjustments and honestly the offense has kept the Lakers in the last two games against weaker teams. The 3-point shot has not been there at all.

This game is the blueprint of what the Lakers need from LeBron James. The team no longer needs LeBron James to play near-perfect games to have a chance to win. Now the Lakers need him just to pick his spots and set the table and make his teammates better.

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While the LeBron James running the point will be an ongoing issue for the Lakers until Rajon Rondo comes back, games like this are a building block for James to get acclimated to the role of being the superstar that keeps things on order while Anthony Davis dominates.

LeBron James will eventually have to come to a decision soon during this season. Will he be able to sacrifice his numbers when the Lakers fill their roster with Rondo and Kyle Kuzma‘s return. If he does, the Lakers really will be tough to beat. If he doesn’t and wants to enjoy the spotlight AD will be enjoying this year, the Lakers will be vulnerable.

Man, that Anthony Davis is good.

The Los Angeles Lakers are dominant enough with their athletic big men to stop anyone. This is not an exaggeration! 

Frank Vogel has been called a “defensive coach” since he was hired. After Monty Williams and Tyronn Lue said no thanks, most fans rolled their eyes and thought it was a soft shoe statement to cover up the embarrassment of the coaching search.

Okay, maybe Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers had a point. What the Lakers did to the Grizzlies was unfair. The clampdown started around this moment in the game.

See how the Lakers boxed up Grayson Allen and Dwight Howard used quick hands to knock the ball away? LeBron James saves the ball to Danny Green who hits AD with the alley-oop. It was a long time before the Lakers let the Grizzlies score again. The game ended here. The defensive intensity is being sparked by Dwight Howard. He’s coming off the bench now, but he is playing out of his mind defensively. This might change.

Dwight Howard’s energy is not being shown in the box scores, Lakers fans. He only scored two points, but his rim protection compared to JaVale McGee is starting to gain a lot of attention to Lakers fans.

The man said all of the right things to get back on the team, now he demonstrating it. Even the fouls that he does get are not wasted. He fouls hard and makes sure that the shots are difficult around the rim. He has even employed Dikembe Mutombo’s finger wag when he blocks shots now.

Bottom line, the Lakers are something different defensively with Howard in there in McGee’s place. Something Lake Show Life discussed before the season started.

Let’s take time for a Lake Show Life NBA public service announcement.

If you are an NBA player playing against the Lakers and LeBron James is on the floor, do not lay the ball up, dunk it. Only you can prevent chase-down blocks.

Solomon Hill for some reason tried to do a reverse layup on LeBron James. The operative word here is “tried”. LeBron James pinned his shot to the backboard and started the fast break. Quinn Cook hit JaVale McGee for a monster alley-oop dunk. This play blew the roof off the Staples Center.

Sometimes it bears wondering if some of these players watched the NBA Finals back in 2016? Do they have cable? Does anybody remember the Iguodala block? Maybe Hill was out on a date or something because that the only explanation for this.

In all seriousness, watching LeBron expend energy to make this play deserves recognition. The game was over at this point with the Lakers way ahead. The fact that he continued to play hard on the defensive end sends a message to the rest of the roster that he is all in on the defensive culture that Vogel is trying to build. This is a different LeBron from last year when he was a basic turnstile for opposing players to the rim.

But that Anthony Davis is good though.

The Lakers had a party against Memphis, but there are some issues that need to be dealt with.

Sure, the Lakers smoked the Grizzlies, but there is a small trend that needs to be stopped. The slow starts will catch up with the Lakers soon against better competition. Memphis raced out to a 15-2 lead before Anthony Davis went crazy and started the comeback. Also, with his shoulder ailments, the Lakers will be resting him from time to time in the next few weeks. The Lakers will not have him to lean on to bail them out if he sits.

The 3-point shooting has to improve as well. The Los Angeles Lakers missed all on the shots from distance. The Lakers were awful from the 3-point line outside of Danny Green, who hit the first two in the second half. Avery Bradley hit his only shot from behind the line and LeBron hit a couple late. Overall, the Lakers shot 7-of-26 from the 3-point line. That’s not good.

Finally, Lake Show Life gives another shout out to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. It seems that he found his jumper late in the game, hitting multiple shots in a row. He stuffed the box score with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists.

This is encouraging for Lakers fans and KCP to bridge the gap that was about as wide as the Pacific Ocean on opening night. Credit LeBron James for keeping his confidence up because, for the first two games, his game was bad enough to hand him tickets to play overseas. He was that bad.

But in the end, the Lakers are now 3-1, the best record since Kobe Bryant had two good Achilles tendons. For that, the Lakers fans joined LeBron in a small chant. We all know the song, why don’t we all sing along.

Lake Show Life would like to send our thoughts and prayers out to the people affected by the Getty fire in California. LeBron James was affected as well. He had to evacuate his home after the Hornets game Sunday night. He sent a Taco truck to the firemen and first responders who are currently battling the blaze. He took to social media to show his appreciation for their hard work and sacrifice.

This game closes out the month of October. The Los Angeles Lakers are off until Friday when they play the Dallas Mavericks. Lake Show Life will provide a post-game report.