LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the foundation for the Los Angeles Lakers. Without LeBron and AD, this team would not be contending for a championship this season. There is absolutely no denying that.
However, on Thursday night, the superstar duo looked much less like a superstar duo and more like a pair of ring-chasing veterans. After leading throughout the first three quarters, the Lakers collapsed in the fourth quarter with LeBron and AD at the nucleus.
With the 108-103 loss, Los Angeles is now down 0-2 in the Western Conference Finals. Winning Game 2 would have been huge as it would have stolen home-court advantage from the Denver Nuggets. Instead, the Lake Show absolutely has to win Games 3 and 4 at home or the season is over.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis let the game slip away for the Lakers while Jamal Murray took over.
This game will probably go down as the Jamal Murray game. Murray was awful the first three-quarters of this game but took over in the fourth to capitalize on the Lakers’ shortcomings. It is probably good for LeBron and AD, as many will remember Murray’s performance instead. He played like a star player should play in a playoff game.
It was not all bad for LeBron and AD as the duo was able to get the Lakers close late but the damage from earlier in the quarter had already been done. After picking up a loose ball foul against Nikola Jokic, LeBron attempted his classic pull-up three to silence the crowd and take a five-point lead. He bricked it.
On the ensuing possession, he tried the exact same thing. He bricked it again. Overall, LeBron went 0-6 from three in this game and went 0-3 from three in the fourth quarter.
Davis finished with multiple turnovers in the fourth quarter and could not hit all of his free-throw shots. With the Lakers down five and a minute and a half to play, Davis couldn’t hit a wide-open Rui Hachimura in the corner and instead fumbled the ball and turned it over. Davis would miss his next three-point shot despite having a wide-open look in the corner. It would have brought LA to one.
And of course, it all ended with LeBron getting stripped by Bruce Brown as he was taking the ball up the court with LA down five. Shortly before that, LeBron missed a wide-open lay-up that would have given LA a chance to win.
When it was all said and done, Anthony Davis finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. He shot 4-15 from the field and turned the ball over four times. A superstar player committing as many turnovers as made field goals is unacceptable. The sad part is that this isn’t the first time he has disappeared in the playoffs.
LeBron’s stat line was slightly better with 22 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. But that wasn’t indicative of the poor fourth quarter that he put together.
If the Lakers want any chance of making the NBA Finals they need their star players to play better in crunch time. If not, we could be looking at a sweep.