LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – LeBron James missed seven of the 11 shots he took in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 111-88 Game 2 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, with his 10 points Thursday for the least he has scored in a win in his 241 career playoff games.
It helps to have a teammate like Anthony Davis.
Binding LA’s first round of the Western Conference 1-1, Davis led all scorers with 31 points on shots 13 for 21 (including 3 for 4 of 3) and had 11 handballs, 3 assists, one steal and one in Block for 29 minutes. It marked the first time a Lakers player has scored 30-plus points in less than 30 minutes since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did so in 1987, according to research by Elias Sports Bureau.
“I’ve had some great teammates in my career,” James said. “AD is one of those unicorns, and he does things that some of my other great teammates are not able to do.”
James soon named Dwyane Wade, with whom he won two championships as part of the Miami Heat, and Kyrie Irving, with whom he teamed up to win a ring with the Cleveland Cavaliers, as’ Davis’ elite company ‘. But the point was clear: Davis is as dominant a running mate as a player could hope for.
As effective as Davis was offensive – and caused a shaky 8-for-24 shooting effort in Game 1 – his defense helped keep a Portland team that averaged 126 points in the seeding round to an 88-low 88 points on 40% shot.
Although Lakers coach Frank Vogel stuts with the same starting lineup as in the series opener, he used Davis at center on Thursday – to great effect. LA outscored Portland by 15 in the 15 minutes in which Davis played the 5, and Davis scored 22 of his 31 points in that stint, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
However, the most significant influence with Davis at center was Portling’s shooting just 5-for-22 from the field, while Davis manned the middle, according to data from Second Spectrum.
“We’re competing at a very high level,” Vogel said after what was arguably his team’s best performance since arriving in Florida. “The care factor on the defensive side of the ball is where it needs to be for playoffs, to win in the playoffs. We have great, enormous respect for the offensive firepower of the basketball team we play.”
Davis has even greater respect for James, who was instrumental in the first place after LA. James told ESPN in December 2018 that it would be ‘amazing’ and ‘unlikely’ if the Lakers could somehow get the versatile big man.
Six months later, a deal was agreed between the Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans, and Davis and James teamed up to take the Lakers franchise to court through a renaissance season, albeit an attempt to do so.
“I mean, it started training camp, after press season, traveling abroad, after the start of the new year, the tragic death of Kobe of course [Bryant] and those victims on that helicopter, until the end of the season, to players who get injured, [Rajon] “Rondo is going down for a big chunk of the year, after the restart, and our brother Avery Bradley is not here,” James said. And so on and so forth. I do not even know. It feels just like it’s been three or four different seasons [in one], that I know what we are capable of. I know how we are built. “
James knew Davis would have to give more on Thursday than he did when the No. 8-seeded Blazers it no. 1st team in the West lined up in the series opener.
“I was really approaching myself after Game 1,” Davis said. “I did not feel like I was performing to the level I needed. And he let me get my moment and kind of on myself, and then he talked to me and said I was fine.
“He said it was one game, and as someone who has won multiple championships and been in these situations before, he knew what to expect. He knew what to expect from his teammates, and he was just there for me to to encourage me and keep me right. Because it was just one game. “
Thursday’s game marked one win that the Lakers had been waiting a long, long time for. It had been more than eight years – 3,016 days, to be exact – since the franchise won a playoff game on May 18, 2012.
Davis was then in college. James was on his way to his first title with the Heat. Now they are together, trying to stack 15 more wins in the bubble to bring the Lakers their first championship in a decade.
“Our relationship has been great all season,” Davis said of James. “I’ve been leaning on him all this season, just trying to figure out the tricks [of the] trading games with a man like him and a team like this. … He kind of has been there for me and supported me and kind of guided me through this whole process. “
When James’ pep talk was followed after Game 1, communication was cut off, leading to tipoff Thursday.
“He did not say a word to me today,” Davis said. “He kind of though, I mean, he kind of knew. He saw the look on my face from the beginning.”
James, however, was noticed after the match.
“Tonight,” James said, “AD was wonderful.”
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