Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons in series tying win over the Phoenix Suns
By Ronald Agers
Andre Drummond actually affected Deandre Ayton in a way that the box score won’t tell for the Los Angeles Lakers!
In Game 1, the Los Angeles Lakers seemingly forgot their one ace in the hole coming into this series matchup… Size.
The Lakers totally dominate the Suns in the physical matchup with the Suns. Only Deandre Ayton can match the size of Andre Drummond, Davis, James and Marc Gasol, who all stand 6-foot-9 or taller and weigh more than 250 pounds. In Game 2, the light bulb came on and the Lakers took advantage. They set the tone with Andre Drummond in the opening minutes.
Andre Drummond had 7 rebounds by the four-minute mark setting up a dominant night of rebounding for the Lake Show. In Game 1, Deandre Ayton had 8 offensive boards. By the end of the first quarter, Drummond had half of that total.
Andre Drummond had a huge game scoring 15 points (7-11 shooting!) 12 rebounds (5 offensive!) with 2 steals and a block.
How did he change the fortunes of Deandre Ayton?
In the first games of this series, Deandre Ayton is averaging 21.5 points on an almost unfair 87.5 percent shooting from the field. In this game, he finished with another double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. But with Ayton averaging 13 rebounds per game, what’s the difference?
The offensive rebounding.
Ayton was almost a nonfactor on the offensive glass only collecting two that stagnated the offensive flow that dominated the Lakers on Sunday. The Suns shot 46.5 percent in Game 1 and outrebounded the Lakers 47-33 while dominating the offensive rebounding stats a whopping 16-10.
In Game 2, the Suns shot the same 46.5 percent from the field, HOWEVER, the Lakers outrebounded Phoenix 39-31. But check out the offensive rebounding numbers. The Lakers win the offensive rebounding battle 8-4.
Andre Drummond had more offensive rebounds than the entire Phoenix Suns roster. Even though Deandre Ayton continues to score at a historical pace for a first-time center in the playoffs, he didn’t have nearly the impact he had in Game 1.
Frank Vogel deserves a ton of credit ignoring resounding calls to blow up the starting lineup to stick with Andre Drummond. His dominant effort inside created extra possessions with his rebounding. As you just read, Andre quietly had his most important game in a Lakers uniform.
Read on to see why his job is far from done with this roster.