The Los Angeles Lakers need to fix the rebounding woes in Game 4

The Los Angeles Lakers were severely out-rebounded in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

As Laker fans, we have seen plenty of thrilling playoff victories in the final seconds. Unfortunately, after sinking the game-winning three-pointer to clinch Game 2, Anthony Davis failed to ride that high to a great performance in Game 3 for the Los Angeles Lakers. His rebound numbers were particularly concerning.

In the second half of Game 3, Anthony Davis stepped up to the free-throw line while a very telling graphic from the folks at TNT appeared on the screen:

In 33 minutes of action, Davis had failed to grab a single rebound!

By the end of the game, the power forward had grabbed just two boards. Unfortunately, the Lakers’ rebounding woes didn’t stop there. The Laker frontcourt comprised of Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, and Davis combined for just four total rebounds.

To put that in perspective, Danny Green matched the rebounding production of the entire Laker frontcourt. On the opposing side, the 6’4 Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray was twice as productive with eight rebounds of his own.

In a game that saw the Lakers trail by 20 points at one point, the rebounding discrepancy is a glaring issue that head coach Frank Vogel will need to address heading into game 4.

When the dust settled at the end of game 3, the Lakers were outrebounded 44-25. Despite their size, the Lakers were near the bottom of the top ten in rebounding this season. Even so, the Nuggets ranked just 20th in regular-season rebounds per game.

In the playoffs, the Lakers are 7th in rebounds with Denver significantly behind at 13th. To put that in perspective, only 16 teams qualified for the postseason putting Denver in the bottom 25% of teams. The Lakers were in the better half.

According to the Los Angeles Times, The two rebounds for Anthony Davis make this his second-worst rebounding night of the season. Of course, one stat is almost never the sole reason for a loss.

To make matters worse, LeBron James also had one of his worst games in terms of free throw attempts. His mere two shots at the line tie his lowest output this postseason.

As a whole, The Lakers were outshot 29-22 at the free throw line. Sometimes one can make the argument that free throw discrepancies are a sign of poor officiating. However, it’s pretty clear that the Lakers’ rebounding totals and 6-26 shooting from behind the arc would suggest an overall lack of aggression.

With plenty of missed three-pointers resulting in long rebounds, it isn’t as easy to rebound as a Center in the NBA as it used to be. As a result, Howard, McGee, and Davis aren’t entirely to blame. The guards on the Lakers will need to do a good job of crashing the boards to avoid another poor outing on the glass.

Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman said it best:

“I’m hungrier than those other guys out there. Every rebound is a personal challenge.”

Eloquently put. Rebounding is simply that: an effort stat. Unlike Rodman, the Lakers were full on Tuesday night. With Jokic pulling down over twice as many rebounds as the Lakers’ entire frontline, hunger was definitely the issue. The Laker bigs will hopefully be doing some fasting before game 4.