5 Things: “Kobe!”, Lakers take 2-0 lead over Denver

With one epic, clutch three pointer from the beyond the arc Anthony Davis joined the pantheon of clutch Laker playoff performers, canned his first playoff game winner and gave his team a 2-0 advantage in the western conference finals. Not bad for a Sunday in the Bubble.

1. Anthony Davis channeling his inner Mamba. On a night where they were wearing his signature Laker jersey, where he has a difficult first half scoring the ball and most importantly when his team needed him Anthony Davis stepped up big time. His three to win it stopped an epic scoring push by Nikola “Joker” Jokic who was dropping in buckets from everywhere over anybody. We had squandered the lead and Denver looked poised for one of their patented post-season comebacks. That shot changed all of that. For all their playoff grit the Nuggets are, for the first time, down 2-0 hole. So it’ll be a different test for them starting Tuesday night. Biggest basket of AD’s young career and certainly his highest as a Laker. Mason Plumlee going to be kicking himself for slipping a non-existent screen by LeBron for a good long while.
2. LeBron’s big first half. James looked so dominant in the first half, and especially in the first quarter, it had the in-air broadcast team openly wondering how the Nuggets could survive. While he cooled off in the second half his string start helped build a cushion that enables us to withstand another furious Denver rally late in the game.
3. Alex Caruso has arrived. While he missed his own go-ahead three in the play before AD’s epic bucket Alex had a great game. While it wasn’t his flashiest stat line, AC had a highlight dunk, was perfect like all but one Laker from the free throw line, and is playing like a seasoned vet. Not sure so much could have been expected of Alex when the playoffs started but, in my mind, Alex has proved himself to be an essential part of the Lakers present and future.
4. The Big Man isn’t dead! But JaVale May have started his last game of the series if not the remainder of the playoffs. Dwight’s just playing at a higher level. The only reason I would argue for keeping JaVale a starter is to help keep Dwight out of early foul trouble. He picked up 5 in 13 minutes of action last night and we need him available in the 4th with a couple fouls to spare to check Nikola when the game is likely going to be on the line. JaVale is longer but Howard’s the better defender and athlete. His foot speed allows him to stay in from of Jokic and he looks hyper-motivated. Great game from Dwight, fouls and all.
5. The Free Throw game. We shot a lot in game 1, they shot a ton in game 2. Now there will be equality in the amount of free throws dispensed by the refs. Or it’ll be akin to a hockey match with fewer than 10 free throws each. Lol, who knows. The one thing we need to do is play this same great defense but without fouling. Easier said than done but that’s the challenge to keep this series tilted in our favor.

Don’t go counting the Nuggets out yet, either. They found a way to stymie our offense by clogging up the paint and giving us three point shots. We are not a great three point shooting team so we’ll either need to sacrifice defense and go smaller (like we did against Houston) or we’ll need to play better defense and not put them at the line so much. A few more Nugget made free throws, a 3 pointer from Jamal Murray (2-9, one a half court heave) or a better game by any number of Denver players and this could have gone very differently. We still need to bring that first half A game. But there’s a lot to like about where we are. Go Lakers.