The Los Angeles Lakers remembered how much damage Anthony Davis and the two centers can do to opponents.
It was another light night of work for Anthony Davis as he only played 29 minutes. Another example of “Load Management” done the right way. Even though his time on the floor was light, it doesn’t mean he didn’t do work.
Anthony Davis was smooth as butter on offense, scoring 18 points on 8-12 shooting from the field. He added 5 assists, an assist and a steal. Outside of LeBron James leading the team in assists, AD leads the team in seemingly every other statistical category. He leads the team in points, rebounds, steals and blocks. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if he was just dominant or the Spurs were shell-shocked.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1224918610860097537
Feel free to rim protect next time. Look for this to happen a ton on Thursday night. With Clint Capela being traded to Atlanta, the pick and roll will be the favorite play for all of the big men. If you run into a Houston Rockets fan, tell them their team might want to get used to big man carousel of alley oops just like this.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1224903009961828352
What damage AD didn’t do to the Spurs frontline, the center duo of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard took care of to render them helpless. It wasn’t fair. Really. The two combined 26 points on an absurd 10-12 shots.
Dwight Howard is well on his way to making a few dollars next year. His renaissance continues as the season goes along. In 22 minutes, he hit all five of his field goal attempts and grabbed 11 boards. He tied LeBron with the team high +20 plus/minus.
What is noticeable here is the defense is better when the Lakers get back to understanding that their length and size can’t be matched by anyone in the NBA. The Los Angeles Clippers are reportedly looking for size around the trade deadline. This is a tell-tale sign that the Lakers have something special here. When they don’t start falling in love with shooting 3-pointers all night and ignore this huge advantage, this is the result they will get most nights.
Houston is the next opponent on Thursday.