This night, Anthony Davis took only 10 shots in the narrow defeat against the Thunder, and only one in the last quarter. That's very little for one of the best scorers in the NBA, and the only time it happened to him this season was when he was injured against the Raptors. Author of 15 points on 5 out of 10 shots against the Thunder, Davis was caught in the spider's web stretched by Mark Daigneault.
“To be frank, there was clearly a lot of attention to the details of the game plan around him” admitted JJ Redick. “We have several different ways of giving him the ball, and it's not necessarily the same system, and they had prepared well. »
A complete match despite everything
Yet deprived of Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's teammates were able to count on the physique of Isaiah Hartenstein but also the mobility of his teammates to corner the 2024 Olympic champion. Certainly unable to find good shooting positions, Davis compensated with his assists with 7 assists, and overall he had a full match with 12 rebounds and 4 blocks for an evaluation of 31.
“When he was able to get the ball in his usual spots, there were just a lot of players on him, but again, this is the second game in a row where a team has done that, and he was a good passer, » Redick continued. “I repeat, he made seven assists. He didn't score like he usually does, but he had an exceptional game. »
This is the second time in a row that the Lakers interior has reached this threshold, but this time, it ended in a defeat. A narrow defeat, and perhaps Davis missed one or two basket shots for the Lakers to bring down their conference leaders.
“It’s a really good team, well coached” underlines LeBron James, while Redick assures that he and his staff will learn the lesson, and find solutions to put Davis in shooting positions.
