With an hour of playing in front of the Lakers and Warriors G6, Davis is sure to play.
In fact, this is no secret.
What this game means for the Lakers, Davis and his teammates know very well, if they lose the game and go to Chase Center to play a steal seven, the consequences will become uncontrollable.
If there was a hint of concern before the game, "Did Davis play with an injury?" ”
When the game started, people's concerns were completely gone.
In the first quarter alone, Thick Eyebrows cut down 9 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, and before he went to rest, the Lakers led the Warriors by 14 points at one point.
It was a game that set the tone from the start, and the Lakers didn't give the Warriors a chance.
Davis played 40 minutes, and he had 17 points, 20 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks on just 9 shots.
How good is this data?
Since Ben Wallace in 2002, no one in the NBA has been able to do that for 21 years.
After the game, Davis made no secret of his ambition: "We want to shock the world, James and I want another championship, and now is the time!" ”
Davis's ambition naturally goes without saying, but his phrase "And now is the time" is worth playing.
After joining the Lakers, Davis gained almost everything in his first season.
4th career first team, 2nd first defense, 7th All-Star, and most importantly, first career championship.
In the October 2020 Finals, Davis averaged 25 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3 assists per game, and although he failed to win the FMVP, Davis still had a smile on his face.
But what if you don't get FMVP? That was just Davis' first season with the Lakers, when he was only 27 years old, everything looked so good, everything seemed to have plenty of time.
But since then, with the exception of one All-Star, who resembles "inertia," Davis' individual accolades have been nearly zero. Of course, if you count the best of the week as an honor, Davis has won two. But for a star like him, taking Zhou's best thing is more like cursing.
There is no need to get tangled up in the so-called No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 positions, the fact is that in comparison with top interior linemen such as Alphabet Brother, Embiid, and Jokic, Davis is now in a very disadvantaged position.
Alphabet Brother won the championship and FMVP on the basis of two MVPs;
Jokic won two regular-season MVPs, and Embiid was finally crowned this year.
Yes, Davis did win the championship, and he was named to the 75 stars of all time. But it is also an indisputable fact that he went downhill when he should have risen.
If last season's All-Star missed out on injury, then this season's All-Star failure is based on last season's dismal results, declining individual performance, and accumulated disappointment in the fan media league.
We are all very aware of the NBA routine.
It's hard to be an All-Star, but once you're uncut, it's even harder to be an All-Star again. Because in people's minds, it means that you are already going downhill, and climbing up from the trough is the hardest.
Last summer, Davis' rating was almost the worst in his career.
The only news about him was basically criticism of his lack of training and esports-related news, which caused him the most criticism ever.
Celtics legend Garnett is a prime example.
Perhaps because of the same style of play, Garnett has always supported Davis, even if Davis wears the shirt of the Green Army's sworn enemy, Garnett has never spared praise for him. But gradually, Garnett began to hate iron and steel, and every time Davis was mentioned, he looked angry.
From initially encouraging him to compete for MVP, to doing a good job of assisting James, to directly criticizing him for not putting his mind on the court.
The lack of honor, the swearing of the media, the disappointment of the fans, the criticism of the seniors, that's all Davis endured.
You think this is over? And it didn't.
When James broke the overall record, Davis somehow didn't get up to celebrate.
We have no intention of speculating about what Davis was thinking, let alone his relationship with James. But the truth is that the incident caused Davis such controversy that he had to apologize specifically for it.
The explanation he gave was that the team was trailing at the time and he wasn't focused on James' record-breaking.
At that time, the Lakers were far from the current Lakers team that destroyed who destroyed whom, and they didn't even see the hope of the playoffs. Combined with the Lakers' roster at the time, not everyone took the impact of the playoffs and championships as a goal, some people should have already taken it, and some people just wanted to exchange this season's data for a contract.
The only person who really needs to use the team's record and individual performance to improve his status and fight back against doubts is Davis. To exaggerate, James can lie on the honor book to retire, and others can eat and wait for death for personal small goals, but Davis, once known as the "son of America", is absolutely unacceptable in his best years.
So he shut down social media, but in exchange for no sympathy.
The reason is simple, Davis' problems are not just caused by the team, but also his own injury problems. So this makes Davis very embarrassing, very distressed. He saw no hope in this team, he was unhappy with what the team was doing, but he didn't do what he had to do. In other words, even if he wants to curse, he has no confidence.
If Pelinka hadn't made drastic changes in the middle of the season. Perhaps what we see is another season of the Lakers that doesn't die, and then Davis is once again caught up in all kinds of criticism and trade rumors, even saying that it is not ruled out that he may really leave the Lakers.
Luckily, the turnaround came, and Pelinka's trade reinvigorated the team. At the same time, Davis is in the healthiest phase of the past three years.
The rapid run-in of new signings, James returned from injury in time, and the Lakers saw hope of impacting the playoffs again. In the process, the Lakers gradually discovered that they should not only target the playoffs, they can do more.
And a healthy and scrappy Davis is the biggest strength of this team.
Since the start of the playoffs, Davis has averaged 37 minutes per game, which is even more than his championship season.
He averaged 21.2 points, 14.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 3.3 blocks while shooting 53 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from three-point range. His rebounds and blocks are all the first in the league, and his defensive efficiency is also the highest of any player in the league.
The media will always joke about Davis' instability, ignoring one fact. It's that only when Davis plays well will the Lakers have a bigger chance of winning.
In three games in which he scored less than 15 points, the Lakers won one and lost two;
In the three games in which he didn't get a double-double, the Lakers went 0 wins and lost three;
In the seven games in which he scored 20+ points, the Lakers won five wins and lost two;
In five games in which he picked up 15+ rebounds, the Lakers went four wins and one loss.
This Lakers team has never needed Davis as much as it does now.
After winning over the Warriors, the Lakers will face the Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.
Three years ago, the Lakers knocked on the door to the Finals with the Nuggets, and finally won the championship.
In an interview, Davis was asked how he thought of his old rivals, and he said lightly: "It's hard for me to say anything, because three years have passed, they are different from then, and we are different from then." ”
As mentioned above, from the age of 27 to 30, this is the perfect time for stars to reap the glory.
In his golden age, Davis not only did not gain anything, but also drove backwards. But people have to look forward after all, those missed MVPs, DPOYs, All-Stars, etc. are a thing of the past, and none of this matters anymore.
The important thing is that if Davis can lead the team to victory again, he will regain the respect, love and value that people have regained from him.
Now that this opportunity is in front of him, can he seize it?