Los Angeles Lakers: Anthony Davis can put Lakers on brink of title no. 17

The Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis are imposing their will on the Miami Heat.

Welcome to Kevin’s Key. Where we determine the key player to determine victory or defeat for your Los Angeles Lakers! The key player for tonight’s game is Anthony Davis.    

See below for past Kevin’s Keys. Two Miami Heat players, Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, were identified as key players for Games 1 and 2, respectively. Now it’s time to give some shine to the good guys, the Los Angeles Lakers! Anthony Davis gets the spotlight on this special night.

Game 1: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
Game 2: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat

Jim Ross, the legendary WWE commentator, may as well have called Games 1 and 2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. This all-time WWE moment may have been mistaken for Anthony Davis overpowering Miami’s defense.

“Good God almighty! Good God almighty! He killed him! With God as my witness, he is broken in half!”
 
This was JR’s most iconic call in his illustrious career – made during the Undertaker-Mankind Hell in a Cell match in 1998. Mick Foley, playing the Mankind character, suffered horrific injuries as soon as he fell off the top of the 16-foot cage.

Mankind went on to finish the match. Mick Foley can barely walk today. Miami, like Mankind decades earlier, has been unbelievably resilient all playoffs long. They have come back from several double-digit deficits to make it to the NBA Finals.

Anthony Davis doesn’t care. AD might be a little nicer than Undertaker.

Might be.

Anthony Davis is crushing Miami’s defense just as bad. He knows he can get an open shot or an offensive rebound anytime he wants. Especially when Miami plays their inverted 2/3 zone, where they have their two smallest players defend the corners and the baseline.

(I expect Miami to mothball the zone tonight. AD and LeBron have almost always overpowered them at the free-throw line, which is the zone’s weak point. The Lakers have gotten too many offensive rebounds and wide-open looks against the zone to justify its continual use.)

Related: Los Angeles Lakers: How Anthony Davis found his Mamba Mentality

Down two starters, Miami has valiantly fought to stay competitive in this series. It is, however, as if a legendary warrior is fighting off certain defeat for as long as he can.

Losing anybody is a crushing blow. Miami’s is especially crushing because they are not a deep team. Losing two guys on an eight-man rotation is a crushing blow.

Especially those two guys. Losing Goran Dragic was devastating. Dragic became the team’s de-facto go-to scorer in crunch-time and was the lone true point guard in the rotation. At least he had theoretical replacements: Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro have at least tried to replicate his production, if not his play style.

Losing Bam Adebayo, on the other hand, ended the series prematurely. No one else on Miami can replicate what Bam does on both ends. And nobody on Miami besides Bam can even come close to guarding AD. I saw Bam as the only person who can keep Miami in the series because of those two reasons.

Without him, Miami senses their own inability to guard AD. They have no one else with the physical tools who can contain him. They realize they have a difficult time stopping him and LeBron James even with their best efforts. But forget about it when Miami is slacking off on the boards.

Three Miami players had a chance to box out Anthony Davis. They failed to do so. Not boxing out is a telltale sign of a lack of effort. Granted, it is not always due to a lack of effort. Miami has been out-rebounded by 25 boards (14 of those offensive rebounds) in these last two games.

The Lakers are just too big! Jim Ross may have said this before: Will somebody stop the match? Enough is enough!

Miami has to defend at maximum effort to even compete with the Lakers. Even then, it may not be enough. They just do not have the height.

Add Dwight Howard and LeBron James, and nobody on Miami’s frontline stands a chance physically. At least Dwight Howard is not a focal point on the Lakers offense (strangely, he only played 17 minutes). At least Miami has guys with experience guarding LeBron James.

Nobody on Miami can guard a fully-engaged Anthony Davis (that might be true for the rest of the NBA). Jae Crowder tries hard. He is just too short. So is Andre Iguodala, who has ended up playing center in Miami’s iteration of Micro Ball. Crowder and Iguodala have certifiable experience as designated LeBron stoppers. That does not mean they can guard Anthony Davis.

Miami might have to lean heavily on bigger lineups to adjust. Kelly Olynyk and Meyers Leonard would get more playing time. Both those guys would have trouble staying in front of him.

To recap, Size does matter. Mindset does too. Enough cannot be enough for Anthony Davis. AD has to be as ruthless as the Undertaker on that fateful night. He has to put Miami down for the three-count, because they are not tapping out.

It’s all up to AD whether Miami is all done or not. Winning Game 3 would (virtually) put the final nail in the coffin.

On to Game 3!