"Thick eyebrows" Anthony Davis has fallen into a strange circle of gods and ghosts. Davis didn't stop Jokic in the last game, but he scored 40 points and could barely call a "mutual explosion". In the second game, Jokic turned in 23 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists, and 3 steals, and Davis can only be called "exploded".
Davis still hasn't stopped Jokic, Hachimura and LeBron James are desperately going against Jokic, Jokic's efficiency and 5 turnovers on 9-of-21 shooting are obviously not his normal level, and the Lakers have done their best to defend Jokic. In desperation, Davis (and of course Russell) screwed everything up.
There's no need to blame the 38-year-old James, who was twice suspected of being injured in the game and the physical drain that Jokic brought to him left him with no spare time to take over the crucial moments. It was Davis who was supposed to step up, but Davis let everyone down.
As Davis himself said before the game: "The Lakers paid me so much money to do this." "4 of 15 is obviously not the reason why the Lakers gave Davis a top salary.
In the first game, Davis did not defend Jokic well alone, and when Davis defended Jokic, the Nuggets scored a whopping 1.45 points per round in 55 rounds, shooting 66% from the field. In the fourth quarter, when Hamm adjusted the alignment to put Hachimura against Jokic, the Nuggets scored only six points in 12 rounds, and offensive efficiency plummeted.
It was widely believed that Hamm would start Hachimura in the second game, continuing the successful defensive strategy of the first game, but Hamm played a horse racing game and let Vanderbilt return to the starting lineup against Murray and Davis to continue against Jokic.
Davis still can't defend against Jokic, even if Davis is a defensive elite, but his tonnage is still not enough in front of Jokic's huge body. In addition, perhaps for fear of getting into foul trouble, Davis' defensive intensity is not as great.
In the middle of the first quarter, the Lakers began to adjust their defensive alignment, this time Davis defended Aaron Gordon, James against Jokic, and the Lakers forced Gordon to shoot. James took over Jokic defensively earlier than expected. It was a very risky move, but judging by James' attitude, he was ready to fight.
Wait for the eight bases to be in place, the eight villages to match Jokic, the Lakers are still the same old routine, the eight villages are on top, Davis assists the defense, Russell shrinks and waits for the opportunity to steal, pinching Jokic's passing route with his teammates. In this round, because the Nuggets were in foul trouble, Bruce Brown and Jeff Green were in the bottom corner and wing, the outside offense was really not a threat, and the Lakers could boldly shrink.
James' three-point sense is still not found today, but in other ways James has a strong presence. Schroder and Russell combined to shoot 5 of 17, the so-called three guards are only Austin Reeves to power, James today returned to the big core mode of the ball, pressing the rhythm and instigating blocking.
James' most impressive is the aggressiveness of defending Jokic on the defensive end, such as this round, James stuck Jokic around the front defense, plus Davis assisted the defense, this round eventually converted into Gordon open iron.
Murray and Jokic tried to block and break and James went straight from opposite Jokic to change Murray and complete the steal.
We all saw these rounds in the 2020 Western Conference Finals, when James was 35 years old.
At 9:09 in the third quarter, when Davis defended Jokic for receiving a third foul, the Lakers began to protect Davis, once again allowing James to take over the defense of Jokic.
Including many shots in the back, such as James destroying Jokic high hanging ball, etc., James has been very powerful in terms of countering Jokic, and his contribution to Jokic today is no less than Hachimura. By the fourth quarter, the combination of injury and fitness had left James powerless to take over.
Hachimura also opened the game in Hamm's "Taboo Horse Racing" trick, Hamm was right to keep him in the transition section to play again, the Nuggets had a problem with the bench, and Hachimura had an advantage against Green, Brown and Braun.
James had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, and Hachimura came off the bench for 21 points, and the two played offensive output while helping Davis defend Jokic. James missed two empty baskets and Hachimura also had an offensive foul in key moments, and these details were indeed hurtful, but it was Davis who was largely responsible for the Lakers' loss.
The Lakers have tried to take the pressure off him as much as possible, but Davis only had 18 points and 14 rebounds on 4-of-15 shooting on the offensive end. Yesterday's Tatum had a series of fatal mistakes in key moments, but he guaranteed at least basic offensive output. Davis was caught by the opponent on three fatal errors in key moments, two of which were converted into three-pointers, which directly led to the collapse of the Lakers, not counting the negative impact of Davis' several iron shots when the Lakers led in the third quarter.
In the final four minutes, Davis became a three-point shooter, making two bottom-corner three-point shots and one three-point shot at the top of the arc, making a total of 1 of 3. But Davis' biggest strength is inside offense, and when he misses mid-range shots and throws, he opts for superstitious three-pointers.
The Lakers' two-game losing streak is not the end of the world, and they still have room to adjust. Back at home, James' three-point feel may pick up. Whether Russell's starting position will continue to be retained may also be adjusted. But if the Lakers want to turn over, they must first stabilize the basic game of Davis. Davis doesn't play this basic set, and the series may end soon.