Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons from statement win over Bucks

Anthony Davis thinks his play sucks. Lake Show Life disagrees with him!

After the game, AD was very critical of his play of late. Here’s what he said via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

"“Right now, to be hard on myself, man, I think I suck right now,”  “I’m not making shots. I’m not making free throws. But I think tonight my aggressiveness, just being a [post-up threat] and getting to the paint, allowed guys to get open.”"

AD is wrong. His play does not suck. One, he came out aggressive and scored the majority of his points early. Something the Los Angeles Lakers need every game no matter who they play and if he’s hitting his shot or not.

Two, it’s the last part of Davis’ quote that is the most important. He may think his quality of basketball is low, but Lake Show Life does not. Even though he finished with 18 points (8-18 shooting!), 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks, his presence on the basketball court opened up so much room for his teammates to operate.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1352433095408984064

In this play, Jrue Holiday was so focused on AD that he forgot bout LeBron (Imagine that!) and allowed James to cut through the lane, accept the pocket pass from AD and slam dunk it before anyone could move.

What makes Anthony Davis a superstar is that he can affect games even though his shot is not falling. In this game, his passing made a major difference. Davis’ feeds contributed to three shots in crunch time.

• 2:42 left in the game: AD passed to KCP for a 3 pointer to extend the Lakers lead to five points.
• 1:45 left in the game: AD passed to Alex Caruso for another 3 pointer to put the Lakers up by seven points. 
• Finally, he hit LeBron James for a 3 pointer with about a minute remaining to give the Lake Show an eight-point lead that basically ended the Bucks’ chances.

Sure AD is not shooting as well as he would like to, but it happens. Every player from the NBA to YMCA ball goes through shooting lulls at times. Now is his time. But when LeBron James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are shooting lights out, it’s just good common sense to feed the hot shooters.

AD is doing that right now.

The reason the Los Angeles Lakers lost on Monday was the defensive slippage in the second half. Against the Milwaukee Bucks, they showed why they are NBA title contenders. Read on to see how they showed the world that Giannis Antetokounmpo will not get his third MVP trophy this year.