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Early in the fourth quarter, when Houston was starting to pull away from the LA Lakers, there was a possession where LeBron James kicked the ball up, shoved a crowded paint – four Rockets and two Lakers – then, in frustration, made a He gestured and yelled at his teammates “no space”.
Lebron James says “There are no spaces” pic.twitter.com/qruxbz3IGf
– Main Team (@MainTeamSports) September 5, 2020
The Lakers ‘offense was blocked for much of Game 1 against the Rockets, the lane felt clogged, Anthony Davis and others were unable to post (harder to do against the Rockets’ defenders than many believe), and the Lakers 28.9% of 3-point shots failed Houston pay to collapse. LeBron is right, the Lakers need more space.
Just don’t assume that playing Anthony Davis more in center is the easy answer.
Fans and the media jumped at the idea that the Lakers were simply better, and better suited for this series, with more Davis in the five and fewer JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard. Anyone who has watched the Lakers closely all season will tell you that AD in all five has not been a simple answer all season, and it is not now.
While the Lakers had good lineups with Davis in all five, they were generally no better. That carried over to Game 1. Here are some stats, through the fantastic John Schuhmann from NBA.com.
The difference was at both ends of the court, although greater on offense …
Davis + JM or DH
40 points scored on 35 possessions (1.14 per)
34 points allowed on 34 possessions (1.00 per)Davis at 5
37 scored 43 times. (0.86 per)
49 allowed in 42 pos. (1.17 per)– John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) September 5, 2020
• LeBron was on the court with Davis in the fifth for 15.7 minutes in Game 1, the Lakers were -10 in those minutes.
• This is not a new trend. During the regular season, Davis played all five for 40% of his minutes and the Lakers’ offense was worse but the defense was better.
• Again through Schuhmann, the Lakers shot 37.6% from three with Davis in the fourth, and 30.7% when he was in center this season. That may be a random statistical noise, but it lasted the entire season and into the playoffs.
Frank Vogel and his all-star lineup of assistants need to figure out what the execution issues were in Game 1 (17 turnovers, 13 balls live, leading to 27 Rockets points) and what are the confrontation issues they need. settings. Much less Rajon Rondo would be a great place to start (Vogel leaned heavily on him and having LeBron further off the ball for Game 1 was a huge mistake).
Everything is connected. Having Davis in the center won’t matter if the Lakers’ perimeter defenders are playing the killer while James Harden and Russell Westbrook head into the lane (and there was a lot of that in Game 1). The Lakers can’t send Harden to the line 11 times in the first half alone, like they did in Game 1.
None of this will matter if the Lakers don’t drop their 3s either. The Lakers are an outstanding transitional team, but the Rockets got the defenders back and built a wall in front of LeBron (or whoever the ball handler was) and that left open 3-point kicks. That the Lakers failed. The Lakers aren’t a great shooting team, but they can’t shoot below 30% of three and win this series. The Lakers can’t just trade two for three and win.
Davis at center may be a good thing for the Lakers, but it doesn’t solve their shooting problem (as noted above, they were worse than three with him at five) and it doesn’t get their perimeter defenders moving their feet. That’s just execution.
The Lakers lacked execution and lost Game 1 to the Trail Blazers, then bounced back and looked as good as anyone in the bubble in subsequent games. It was a team change. It has to be again for the Lakers to recover.
Moving Anthony Davis to the center is not a silver bullet.
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