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Lakers head coach Frank Vogel didn’t make any changes to the starting lineup after his team lost to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, but he made a crucial adjustment before Game 4.
Instead of putting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green or LeBron James over Jimmy Butler, who scored 40 points in Game 3, Vogel gave the defensive assignment to Anthony Davis, and according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, it was Davis who suggested. the tactic. change:
After that game, privately, a frustrated Davis alerted his teammates and coaches that he needed to be glued to Butler, sources told Yahoo Sports.
And at Monday’s practice, Davis was officially given the assignment he wanted. After the ball was thrown and when the Heat got their first offensive possession, the tone was set when Davis followed Butler.
Butler finished the game with 22 points on a fairly efficient 47.1% shooting from the field, but he struggled with Davis as his main defender. According to NBA.com matchup data, Butler shot 1-5 from the field in 7:47 in which Davis defended him in Game 4. It’s not just about the shots Butler missed, but the shots. That didn’t take a result from Davis’s defense as well. Davis wanted the challenge and accepted it. He dominated the game on defense.
“That’s why he’s the Defensive Player of the Year,” LeBron James said of Davis. “We said it all year. His ability to play one to five, protect anyone on the court, accept the challenge, not just defend the perimeter, continue to protect the paint. The guards attack him. It is difficult to score him. See how high Herro threw that ball? He went in, but he had to throw that thing into the skyscrapers, right?
“That guy can do everything defensively. Protect the ball, protect the post, slide your feet with the guards, compete, you can flesh out big. I mean, do I need to say more?
Unfortunately, Davis is not the Defensive Player of the Year, that title officially belongs to Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, there is a title that Antetokounmpo will not have Davis probably in a few days, and that title is more valuable to Davis than any individual award.
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: it means nothing without the ring.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast at iTunes, Spotify, Stapler or Google podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.
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