[ad_1]
In an effort to limit the production of the Houston Rockets’ small-ball lineup, Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis is keen to move to center position.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports explored the Lakers ‘loss in the Western Conference semifinals in Game 1 and noted the difficulties the team had in dealing with speed on the Rockets’ court. One potential strategy is to change the look of the Lakers’ regular lineup.
“Lakers big man JaVale McGee got off to the usual start in center, but played only 12 minutes in the Rockets’ dominant 112-97 win,” Haynes wrote. “And backup center Dwight Howard logged just 11 minutes, which means a true center made up less than half the game.
“And that could still be too many center minutes in this series with the Rockets taking out 6-foot-5 PJ Tucker as their five man. Lakers star Anthony Davis doesn’t like to play center, but he wouldn’t face a traditional great in this matchup.
“Davis is willing to move from power forward in this series, league sources told Yahoo Sports.”
On a bad night for the Lakers, Davis was his usual productive self, scoring 25 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in a 112-97 loss.
One of the main problems overnight was the Rockets’ success in exploiting the Lakers’ mistakes by scoring 27 points on the Lakers’ 17 turnovers.
Last year, after DeMarcus Cousins’ injury, Davis’s name was mentioned as a last option in center, but the Lakers chose to go with the combination of McGee and Howard and achieved success.
While the loss to the Rockets has made the road to the Western Conference finals a bit longer, the Lakers are not in panic mode. That’s because they lost the first game of their first playoff series to the Portland Trail Blazers, then won the next four games to advance to the second round.
Game 2 of the Lakers-Rockets series will be held at 8:30 pm EST on Sunday.
[ad_2]
