Will the LeBron James-Anthony Davis one-two punch deliver title for the Lakers?
Written by News on 04/09/2020
The Los Angeles Lakers have not had a one-two punch like LeBron James and Anthony Davis since Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant won three straight titles to begin the millennium.
Having a two-man show is not as fashionable in today’s game. The San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors opted to construct their championship rosters around ‘Big Threes’, while others like the Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors put well-balanced, highly-competent supporting casts around a singular top talent.
The one-two punch has mainly been an LA thing. It was on show again in 2009 and 2010 when Pau Gasol joined Bryant to deliver two more championships. This year, James and Davis will try to show it is still relevant.
Shooting from three
Throughout the regular season, James averaged 25.3 points, a league-leading 10.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds, while Davis managed 26.1 and 9.3 boards. The nearest team-mate from a point production perspective was Kyle Kuzma, who scored 12.8 points per game.
That 12.5-point difference between the second and third leading scorer is rare on recent championship squads. The 2017-18 Warriors saw Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry each average 26.4 points, while Klay Thompson scored 20. The difference between Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on James’ championship Cleveland Cavaliers was just 3.6 points. Tim Duncan averaged 15.1 points and Kawhi Leonard had 12.8 on the 2014 title-winning Spurs squad. And the gap between Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on that second Miami Heat winner was 4.6 points.
But, just like in 2001-02 when the 14-point difference between Derek Fisher and Bryant in the regular season grew to 16.4 in the playoffs, the differential between James and Kuzma in the regular season has increased by nearly four points to 16.2 as the Lakers get set to start the second round.
With James, the second-best player of all time, on your team alongside Davis, a second unstoppable scorer, you would think the Lakers have few concerns. Even without a third high scorer, they secured the best win percentage in the Western Conference and the third best in the league – but their offensive output did not quite crack the top 10. The Lakers’ 113.4 points per game was 11th best in the league, and eighth best in the West.
Their opponents in the Western Conference semi-finals will be the Houston Rockets, after they squeezed by the Oklahoma City Thunder in a tense Game 7. But the Rockets are also heavily reliant on two dominant scorers: Russell Westbrook and James Harden, even if they play in a completely different fashion.
This season, the pair averaged 61.5 points, and the gap between Westbrook and the team’s third leading scorer, Eric Gordon, was 12.8 points.
The Rockets are a team built on analytics, and the greatest efficiencies in the modern game are considered three-point attempts and shots at the rim. This is why the Rockets attempted 1,019 more threes than the Lakers this year and ended up scoring more than 400 points on the season, which gave them the second-best offensive output in the league.
A big difference
Unlike the first round, when the Rockets played against an Oklahoma City team with a heavy guard rotation, the Lakers’ match-up should make for interesting viewing.
Los Angeles have a pair of dominant forwards and a good rotation of veteran bigs that have won championships, All-Star nods and Defensive Player of the Year trophies in the past. But the team has weaknesses in the guard department.
The benefit they have against Houston is that the Rockets have a top-10 worst defense in terms of points allowed and coach Mike D’Antoni doesn not play anybody taller than 6ft 8in. The Lakers’ two best players are 6ft 9in and 6ft 10in – it will be quite the clash of styles.
While the Rockets scored 4.4 points more than the Lakers during the regular season, Los Angeles should be able to make up the difference on the defensive end in this series, as Houston allowed opponents to score an extra 7.2 points per game.
The Lakers’ defensive rating (the amount of points their opponents scored per 100 possessions) is the sixth best in the NBA. This is partly thanks to the length and versatility of Davis, who can defend out to the perimeter while relying on Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee to protect the rim. It will take away the driving lanes and the ability for Harden and Westbrook to attack the basket, which leaves the Rockets just one choice of offense: firing from three.
The problem with being in such a rigid system means that a seven-game series gives Houston’s opponents the chance to master their defensive schemes. This was exemplified in the Thunder series when, despite the talent gap, OKC were able to push the Rockets to the brink of a first-round exit.
Harden came up big with a series-saving block, but, as The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor wrote prior to that game, he has shot just 24 per cent from distance in the fourth quarter of playoff games in the past five years. This might be due to losing energy, as he carries such a big offensive load throughout each game, but it is also because his opponents have figured out how to make life difficult for him by that point in the game.
The defensive wizardry of Lakers head coach Frank Vogel, and a team of great defenders, should figure out how to slow Harden down long before we reach Game 7 territory. Beyond this round of the playoffs, however, Los Angeles will face better defensive teams that can prepare their game plans to stop one of their two offensive threats.
It might be the LA Clippers in the next round, or the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics or Toronto Raptors in the Finals. These teams do not just have great defensive schemes and players, many of them are deep offensively, with three, or more, players who can be relied upon.
The real question is whether the Lakers’ role players can do enough – just like they did in 2000-2002 – and give James and Davis enough support when the going gets tough.
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Will the LeBron James-Anthony Davis one-two punch deliver title for the Lakers?
