Anthony Davis returned from the 4th quarter of the LA Lakers’ loss against the Dallas Mavericks with exactly 0 points. His team ended up losing 101-104, which has led to some obvious criticism from Undisputed’s Skip Bayless. Concerned with AD’s recent history of not producing when his team needs him the most, Bayless claimed that the abbreviation AD stood for ‘Always Disappearing.”
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Bayless claimed that while LeBron James played as well as he possibly could, it was Davis’ responsibility to come up with the goods in the 4th quarter. The Lakers were on a rampage, finishing with 30-13 in the 4th quarter despite AD not contributing a single point.
“AD too often stands for Always Disappearing, and last night he disappeared in the 4th quarter. Again, you and I, and all of us have kicked this around and kicked him around on the show again and again and again. If you are that dude, you gotta demand the basketball, you gotta call for it, you gotta say, Remember me?” Bayless said, suggesting that he was guilty of not demanding the ball enough.
Bayless went on to talk about how the Mavericks were ranked 24th in defense in the NBA overall. He claimed that both their best players, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, were not defensively inclined and could easily have been exploited by AD’s physical interior presence.
However, Davis was ignored by his teammates and according to Bayless, was not as involved as he needed to be.
“It should have been AD’s turn in the middle of the 4th quarter to help take them home, I will give you that. LeBron cannot be much better than he was for the first 11, let’s just go all the way till 11 minutes out of the fourth quarter, he did play all 12 minutes,” Bayless said, claiming that James did as much as he could in the final quarter.
You got to call for the ball on a Dallas defense that’s ranked 24th. It should’ve been AD’s turn to help take them home. https://t.co/wntcvXxP64
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 23, 2023
LeBron scored 16 points and had 4 rebounds in the 4th, with Taurean Prince and Austin Reaves contributing 5 and 9 points respectively. None of the Lakers’ other players scored a single basket in the 4th, which was always going to result in trouble, especially when they had a huge 20-point deficit to recover from.
Richard Sherman believes AD has been given the keys by LeBron James
Bayless was not the only Undisputed analyst to look at the game and blame Anthony Davis. Richard Sherman talked about how LeBron is supposed to have given control of the team to AD, who continued on his disappearing act.
“Where is Anthony Davis? File a missing person report because again, on a back-to-back, he disappears when they need him. Sure he had 13 rebounds but 4 for 10 from the field. Non-existent, I didn’t even hear his name being mentioned in the 4th,” Sherman claimed.
Considering the big-money 5-year deal that Davis has only recently signed and the fact that James is 38, there is little doubt that AD should be the main man. Sherman refused to blame LeBron despite him missing the game-tying shot.
“WHERE IS ANTHONY DAVIS?! Did the Monstars take his powers, I don’t get it.”@RSherman_25 reacts to Lakers falling to Mavs 104-101: pic.twitter.com/CkdaG1G0EX
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) November 23, 2023
“That’s where the blame needs to be. LeBron misses the game-tying shot in the end, but he is supposed to have given the keys to Anthony Davis…Like this is your team, I am your running mate.” he said, suggesting that AD needs to deliver consistently if the LA Lakers are to have a chance in the Playoffs this season.
Sherman was especially angry with Davis over the single shot that he attempted in the 4th quarter, which he ended up missing. The fact that AD was not involved at all despite apparently being the Lakers’ main man is arguably the biggest issue the Lakers need to solve, in the coming time.
