After waiting and wondering when and what Anthony Davis taking the torch from LeBron James would look like, the Lakers and their fans are finally getting a chance to see the James to Davis transition in real time.
And what a transition it’s been. The ‘New’ Anthony Davis has not only taken the torch from LeBron James as the Lakers’ lead superstar on offense and defense but is also on a mission to prove he’s the best player in the world. Anthony Davis was unstoppable at both ends of the court Tuesday night, dominating the paint and glass, scoring 30 points and dishing 5 assists on offense and blocking 4 shots and shutting down the Warriors on defense.
Surrounded by a trusted and talented roster that includes Davis, Reaves, Russell, Vanderbilt, Schroder, and Hachimura, the ‘New’ LeBron James no longer has to dominate the ball or be the leading scorer and playmaker. Instead he can focus on doing what the Lakers need to win, be it scoring, rebounding, playmaking, or defense. Tuesday night, he delivered 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks, while orchestrating the defense.
AD finally taking the torch from LeBron could not have come at a better time for the Los Angeles Lakers, who’ve not only recovered from a dismal 2–10 start but are also now just 3 wins away from the conference finals. Anthony Davis is finally healthy and ready to take over as the Lakers alpha superstar at both ends of the court and the roster is talented and deep enough that LeBron James is now free to be their ‘do-anything’ superstar.
And that’s what makes the Lakers so scary: a ‘New’ Anthony Davis who’s playing like the best player in the world and a ‘New’ LeBron James who’s free to do and become whatever Los Angeles needs to win every game.
The ‘New’ Anthony Davis
What makes the ‘New’ Anthony Davis so scary is his transformation this season from an oft injured jumpshot-loving power forward to a bully-ball low-post juggernaut on offense and rim-protecting shot blocker on defense.
While he may never play 82 regular season games, Anthony Davis has now played in 20 straight Lakers games and is on a mission to lead the Lakers to their 18th NBA championship and prove he is the best player on the planet. For the Lakers, Anthony Davis taking the torch from LeBron James could not have come at a better time as the King has lost some explosiveness and lift most likely due to a combination of age and his lingering foot injury.
What makes the Lakers so scary is not Anthony Davis finally being healthy and playing at the championship level he played in the bubble. What makes the Lakers so scary is this is a totally ‘New and Improved’ Anthony Davis. This is an Anthony Davis who reminds you of Shaquille O’Neal on offense and Bill Russell on defense, a freakish blend of talent and athleticism who’s unleashed his true inner self as a throwback low-post two-way monster.
Anthony Davis’ domination of the Golden State Warriors has changed the dynamics of the Lakers and Warriors second round series and how the entire basketball world is now viewing the new-look Los Angeles Lakers. The Warriors will most likely look to go small tonight to try and salvage a win in Game 2 in San Francisco while the Lakers will look to get greedy and steal a second straight win to take a commanding 2–0 lead in the series.
Make no mistake. The Lakers truly believe they can take a stranglehold on the Warriors and punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals by stealing Game 2 tonight. The key to doing that is the ‘New’ Anthony Davis.
The ‘New’ LeBron James
What makes the ‘New’ LeBron James so scary is the Lakers no longer need him to be their leading scorer and playmaker. Instead, he’s now free to do whatever the team needs him to do to win. He’s like the Lakers’ wild card.
Whether it’s Father Time finally catching up or the lingering foot injury that’s hurt his lift and explosiveness, the timing is right for Anthony Davis to take over as Batman and LeBron James to take on the role of Robin. While injuries derailed Lakers’ hopes AD would take the torch from LeBron right after the bubble championship, the long awaited transition is finally happening and actually bolstering the Lakers’ championship chances.
Anthony Davis’ dramatic transformation into the best player in the world, Rob Pelinka’s masterful trade deadline roster makeover, and young Austin Reaves’ emergence have freed up and unleashed the New’ LeBron James. The Lakers now have six players in Davis, Russell, Reaves, Vanderbilt, Schroder, and Hachimura who can get 20 points any given night and three in Russell, Reaves, and Schroder who can run the offense as lead guard.
Imagine what a luxury it is for Lakers’ rookie head Darvin Ham to have LeBron James as his ‘utility’ superstar to provide whatever he needs on any given night, whether it be scoring, rebounding, playmaking, or defending. We saw in Game 1 how James’ basketball IQ and defensive savvy impacted the game as King was like a middle linebacker on defense calling out what the Warriors were trying to do and directing his defenders where to go.
The ‘New’ LeBron James is the Lakers’ wild card, a joker Darvin Ham can deploy or unleash in an infinite number of ways to fill a critical need or take advantage of a unique opportunity to turn defeat into victory.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1654171721954480128
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1654172090331693078
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1654172597968306181
At 38 LBJ is what he should have been even last year. But he had little choice then, now he does.
LeBron still has 3 or 4 years of being a top flight Robin left in his career if he wants it. Unlike Kobe, I think James loves the game so much he would still enjoy that role, especially if it was producing more and more rings.
Yep!
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1654173132452659201
While LBJ hasn’t been great, he has been good. The DLO, Austin, Dennis combination is delivering what the Lakers hoped Westbrook would. Players that can run the show so LBJ doesn’t always have too.
I just love the versatility that the Lakers suddenly have with LeBron not having to be counted upon to be the leading scorer or playmaker. It’s like having three or four different stars in reserve to do whatever you need. If DLO, Austin, and Dennis can continue to play like they have, LeBron becomes an incredible wild card for LAL.
We’d never have gotten 3 blocks and his middle linebacker calling out of every Warriors play and directing everybody where to go and what to do. That’s why the ‘New’ LeBron James is going to be something to watch. His defense was best in the playoffs in years.
Touched on this in my 5er. The James Gang is a more complete organism than a LeBron James-led team. Where it used to feel like if The King didn’t score 30+ (efficiently), dish 8-10 dimes and grab 1/4-1/3 of the rebounds you were in jeopardy of losing a playoff game.
Now? With the James Gang in tow he is still leading the team, he’s just not dominating the ball. It’s making the Lakers harder to guard, especially in the half court, and it’s saving him (a little) for when we might need a turn-back-the-clock game from him. It’s a more complete team.
The Lakers look like they’re rolling pretty hard right now. If I were to nitpick it would be for Wenyan to play well enough to get AD 4-5 minutes of game-time rest in the second half. Maybe to see Troy Brown’s 12 minutes go to Malik to see if he can get hot or LW4 so he can attack the rim and maybe pick up a foul or two but honestly those could work against as much as for us.
Might be just as well to leave things as-is, although I do worry about the workload with fewer days between games from here on out. If LeBron scores 20-25, Davis scores 30+ in the manner he has been doing (inside, pressuring the defense and piling up team fouls), D-Lo can score 15-20 and one other player can score 15-20 we’re hard to beat.
If the Warriors shut down Reaves, Vando, Rui and Dennis and they all struggle this will be a different game 2 and we may need some of The King to get us another Chase Center win. Even if we don’t get it, we’re still in the driver’s seat until someone beats us at Crypto.
I hope mongo has been enjoying these games where AD is (finally) playing like a lot of us have wanted him to for years.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Jamie. Agree 100% with everything in your comment. I expect the Warriors to come out shooting lights out tonight with 4 shooters and Draymond starting.
If the games get out of control early, I think we’ll see Ham pull James and Davis and be satisfied to get out of dodge with stealing home court. If the Lakers hang tough and the game remains winnable, I think we’ll see LeBron and AD play 40 mpg but not the entire second half.
I feel the same way as you do about Brown’s minutes. I still hope those minutes can eventually go to Mamba. That’s what makes the most sense. He’s the one player who can and should be Davis’ backup.
I just want the Lakers to come out and play well, make the necessary adjustments, and be greedy. We shook up the Dubs on Tuesday but there are lots we could do tonight to really take command of this series and playoffs. Don’t settle. Lakers need to go for the juglar tonight.
Mo is too slow to hang with Draymond and Looney would kill him on the glass. Also that ankle might still be bothering him as he was listed as out n the first game if i remember. This series is a great reason why I wish we had kept Thomas Bryant, even if he wasn’t sunshine and puppy dogs about his role. He would be getting Wenyan’s minutes right now and provide the same hustle but with more in the back pocket to bang with Looney and Green and much better offense.
It is what it is, though. In the end the best thing about Mo will likely be his money coming off the cap this summer when we release him. I’d sure like Malik to make his option this summer a worthy discussion and a hard decision but that just hasn’t happened, yet.
I do agree Mo is not a great fit against Green or Looney but were only talking about 8 minutes per game. Gabriel hustles and is not a rim protector but it far superior to anything Thomas ‘no defense’ Bryant would have given us.
I’d love to trade Beasley and Bamba but I think we’re going to have to be satisfied with bringing back Reaves, Russell, Hachimura, and Schroder, which is probably going to cost us over $75M in taxes.
I think we use #17 pick to get a great young shot blocker to backup AD and act as future insurance. I’d love to draft Derek Lively or Adem Bona with that pick.
Fodder for our Saturday Summer shows!
Mo definitely would be killed on defense against a small team. He just can’t switch on the perimeter. And in the last Grizzlies game Aldama drove past him for 3 layups and he isn’t exactly a speed demon. What is great about AD is he can’t be played off the floor by a small ball team. Mo can be. LeBron and Rui are bigger than anyone other than Looney. I do not think we will play AD 44 minutes again today since we already have a game in our pocket. I think we just need to make a few more 3’s. While are not a great 3 point shooting team we are not this bad. We shot 33% as a team this year and that was with LeBron and Westbrook taking a large amount of 3’s. DLO can make them and Austin too. We just make a few more.