1. Anthony Davis needs to step up
I get it, Anthony Davis is one of the best and most unstoppable players in the league when everything is cooking. We saw that in the Lakers’ two wins in the bubble where he scored over 30 against the Clippers and over 40 against the Utah Jazz.
The problem is that Davis has not been good outside of those two games, even in the game against a much smaller Houston Rockets team without LeBron James. Davis was the guy and did not look the part.
To be fair, the main concern is getting into the playoffs healthy and getting your legs fully under you but Davis has been so passive in these games and has not looked like the second superstar that will lead to an NBA Championship.
Heading into the playoffs, I would like to see Davis at least unleash a bit more than he has and go on a dominant stretch. Whether it is for five minutes or 15 minutes, we need to see something like that out of AD because right now, his play in the bubble is concerning.
And yes, I can already see the comments “these games do not matter, just wait until playoff AD arrives!”
While there is reason to believe that AD will be much better in the playoffs, let’s also not pretend that is this was Paul George putting up these numbers that all of us (myself included) would be clowning him and bringing up the fact that he performs poorly in the playoffs.
Let’s hope that we see something positive from AD this game.