Anthony Davis was inconsistent offensively in the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies. He had two 31-point performances, but he also scored fewer than 20 points in three of the six games in the series.
On the other hand, he was absolutely dominant defensively and on the boards. He averaged 13.7 rebounds and 4.3 blocked shots per game, and those numbers don’t fully measure his impact in those two aspects of the game.
Davis’ Los Angeles Lakers will face the Golden State Warriors in the second round, which means he will go up against an undersized team. This is his time to be dominant and silence his critics, and he can do so by taking care of these three areas.
Dominate offensively
This one goes without saying, but every few games Davis doesn’t play up to his potential offensively.
One reason is opponents have taken to double-teaming him when he gets the ball in the post, and sometimes even before he touches the ball. He will need to counter that by getting deep, early post position and making quick, decisive moves once he gets the ball before a help defender arrives.
His teammates also need to help by getting him easy shots at or near the rim while on the move, something they did a good job of in the Game 6 clincher against Memphis.
Keep Kevon Looney off the boards
In this series, Davis will go up against Kevon Looney, the Warriors’ starting center who is 6-foot-9 and 222 pounds.
A casual man may think such a player would pose little or no threat to Davis, but Looney has been a beast on the boards. He averaged 9.3 rebounds a game in the regular season, but he upped that figure to 15.1 boards a game. In fact, he had three games with at least 20 rebounds in Golden State’s seven-game triumph over the Sacramento Kings, and he particularly hurt the Kings on the offensive boards.
The Lakers need to run and hurt Golden State on the fast break, and they will need Davis to help limit it to one shot in order for them to unleash “Showtime” on Stephen Curry and company.
Continue to defend the rim
The Grizzlies like to attack the rim, but the Warriors, of course, damage teams with the 3-point shooting of Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Donte DiVincenzo.
Los Angeles will need to play these men tight on the perimeter and not give them any daylight, and for that to happen, Davis will need to continue to be a one-man shot-blocking army.
With Davis manning the middle, the Lakers can play Golden State for the 3-point shot, knowing that if they get beat off the dribble on the perimeter, Davis will be there to protect the basket. Historically, Curry has had trouble converting shots against defenders with length, and Davis can help prevent him from getting easy 2-point baskets.
Los Angeles also needs to prevent Davis from being taken away from the basket defensively on pick-and-rolls and switches, something which happened at times against Memphis.
