Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron takes over and beats Memphis, 4 Lessons
By Ronald Agers
Anthony Davis played yet another solid game for the Los Angeles Lakers!
Lake Show Life has to give a shout out when Frank Vogel makes adjustments on potential issues before they become problems. The issue that was apparent was how to get Anthony Davis involved and engaged early.
The Lakers success is directly correlated to how engaged AD is throughout the game. The first two offensive sets were run directly through Davis. After watching Davis struggle scoring in the previous game, getting the ball to AD early in the game to get a rhythm was a top priority. He hit his first shot and all of a sudden he became a factor on both ends of the floor.
This concept takes Lakers fans back to the Showtime days when the Lakers got the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in half court sets early. When Kareem got things going, eventually the fast break got going and the rout was on. It’s good that Vogel went back to basics allowing AD to touch the ball early and often. It’s a good thing too. Davis was the only reason that the Lakers weren’t down double digits at halftime.
In crunch time, AD got the run rolling hitting a huge 3 pointer from the left corner and basically broke the Grizzlies back with this pick and roll play with LeBron.
https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1346658960934277122
Davis finished with 26 points (10-20 shooting. Team-high four 3 point shots!), 10 rebounds , 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks!
But it’s the symmetry that he has with LeBron James working together to close out games. They combined to put up the last 15 points of the game.
This website is going to be a hotbed for debates in the next couple of weeks. If you follow the Lake Show Life Lessons series, there have been plenty of issues pointed out with the overall play and production of certain players. Despite the level of play, the Lakers find themselves back on top of the Western Conference after a Clippers loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
In the analytical age the NBA markets now, numbers make the Lakers look real good even though they are not at the level of last year. Read on to see what this means!