3. The Los Angeles Lakers’ stars outplayed the Rockets’ stars
In 2020, the NBA is more star-driven than ever. Far more often than not, the team whose stars played the best will win a playoff series. In this particular series, Anthony Davis and LeBron James significantly outplayed James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Let’s compare their stat lines and shooting splits.
LeBron James
25.8 PPG / 10.4 RPG / 7.4 APG / 2.0 SPG / 1.8 BPG
.511 FG% / .294 3P% / .711 FT% / 116 ORtg / 103 DRtg
Anthony Davis
25.4 PPG / 12.4 RPG / 4.0 APG / 0.8 SPG / 1.4 BPG
.600 FG% / .400 3P% / .806 FT% / 121 ORtg / 107 DRtg
James Harden
29.4 PPG / 4.6 RPG / 7.2 APG / 1.4 SPG / 1.0 BPG
.500 FG% / .378 3P% / .839 FT% / 121 ORtg / 118 DRtg
Russell Westbrook
19.8 PPG / 7.4 RPG / 5.0 APG / 2.0 SPG / 0.4 BPG
.424 FG% / .259 3P% / .538 FT% / 90 ORtg / 114 DRtg
While Harden was outstanding for most of the series with the exception of game 4, Westbrook was downright awful for 2 out of the 5 games. With Anthony Davis and LeBron James are playing at all-world levels, the Rockets simply needed more from their second option on a consistent basis.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers’ superstars proved that they’re “built differently”. They were a tour-de-force on the offensive side of the ball, not only scoring the ball with impunity but at an incredibly efficient level.
When the two best players on the team combine to shoot 55% from the floor for the series at high volume, that’s going to spell trouble for the other team, and it certainly did for Houston.
The top-notch play wasn’t confined to one side of the court, with both players putting forth incredible defensive performances throughout the series.
For Anthony Davis, the DPOY runner-up, that’s been standard fare all year. Having a big man that can not only guard the pick-and-roll but can switch and capably guard all five positions is almost unheard of, providing the Lakers’ defensive schemes with a weapon that not many teams have.
At various moments across the five games, Davis was even forced to guard James Harden and did an outstanding job containing the most gifted offensive player in the game.
However, the trump-card for the series was LeBron James playing at a level defensively that I haven’t seen since the start of his second stint with Cleveland.
https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1303531762971074561
LeBron usually makes great rotations as an off-ball defender, but throughout the series, his on-ball defense was outstanding and he protected the rim at a rate I’ve never seen from him.
Leading into the postseason, I made the case for LeBron and AD as the best duo in basketball, and nothing I’ve seen through the first two rounds of the playoffs has changed my opinion. They are the primary reason the Lakers won this series in five games and no matter who they face in the Western Conference Finals will undoubtedly be the key to the outcome of that series as well.