“Anthony Davis has to dominate more!” – Shaquille O’Neal echoes Charles Barkley’s sentiment as he pins Lakers struggles to AD’s underperformance
Anthony Davis needs to step up if the Lakers have any chance of making a deep playoff run
Anthony Davis has never been a great 3 point shooter – but he makes a few. This year he’s been shooting like those fans during half time playing for those lottery shots. Shaquille O’Neal on NBA TNT rips into Davis for not being the go to guy. Shaq knows a thing or two about playing that 1-2 offense, with him and Kobe being hugely successful when they played together.
This season, LeBron has had his injury struggles, Russell Westbrook wasn’t hitting his stride which meant AD was the main guy. When put in the spotlight, he froze like a deer in headlights. His points numbers do not show the whole picture, masking his shooting struggles. On paper he’s scoring more than last year, but he’s been horrendous while shooting.
Everyone knows the player Anthony Davis can be when he finds his groove – he just needs to find it fast. With LeBron James back, a lot of the pressure on him should be taken off, and he should be able to perform freely.
“AD has to dominate.”@SHAQ on what the Lakers need to turn their season around. pic.twitter.com/0FKZvcWyTp
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 8, 2021
Anthony Davis may have been selected into the top 75 best players of all time – he certainly isn’t playing like one right now
Whenever the Los Angeles Lakers play, the story mostly revolves around their struggles. Even if they do win, it’s either a blown lead or a struggling single digit win. Early season struggles have been pinned on a lot of players – Russell Westbrook being the prime target.
He deserved a lot of the criticism in the early games, turning over the ball so often that he had a quadruple double if turnovers counted in the stat sheet. But another player who’s struggled is Anthony Davis. AD was probably the best player the Lakers had in their title run, even better than LeBron James. He was much more effective in all positions, both offensively and defensively.
He was never a volume jump shot maker, but this year Davis has been abysmal. 19% from 3 is what you expect from Dwight Howard, not Anthony Davis. Many fans feel Davis has no motivation to win now that he has won a ring.
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