Anthony Davis has inserted himself into the MVP discussion over the past few weeks with his stellar play. Slated as being the one to carry the Los Angeles Lakers forward as LeBron James continues to grow older, AD has finally taken the onus upon himself to be the primary offensive threat on the team.
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Of course, winning MVP with a losing record is almost next to impossible in the NBA but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he would be on the ladder if the purple and gold simply won more games. In his last 10 games, Davis has averaged 31.3 points, 13.7 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks, all while shooting an otherworldly 65% from the field.
Tonight was yet another solid outing from the former no.1 overall pick, as he dropped 21 points in the 4th quarter alone. However, the way he was used in OT was simply unacceptable.
Anthony Davis barely touched the ball in overtime
In a span of 30 seconds, the Lakers tied the game after coming back down from 9 points. A series of steals and Austin Reaves heroics that ended with Davis missing the game-winning free throw led to overtime ensuing against the Sixers.
With the purple and gold fully in control of the momentum, it felt as though they could steal one away from James Harden and company on their home turf. Unfortunately, Philly would come back storming, as they would go on to win the game by 11 points following the end of that 5-minute period.
In this OT period however, Anthony Davis, the clear best player on the Lakers, touched the ball on merely 2 occasions. One of these included a rebound.
Everything that had worked for them to get into a position to win this game flew out of the window. The PnR game with Davis flew out the window and so did the drive and dish. Isolation possessions for AD were also non-existent.
AD touched the ball a grand total of 2 times in OT.
Two.
One was a handoff, the other was a catch and shoot missed 3 at the end of the shot clock. pic.twitter.com/eAxbhZQ5dZ
— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 10, 2022
The Lakers are now 10-15
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the 2022-23 season with championship aspirations. Instead, they’re 5 games below .500 with more than a quarter of the season underway. In hindsight, the Celtics were in a similar position (somewhat) last season and they ended up being 2 wins away from an NBA championship.
Though, with the purple and gold, it feels different. While they have seemed to figured out certain aspects of their roster construction, they’re still missing several key components. Everything from a solid perimeter defense to take the pressure off AD to having at least one or two knockdown snipers from beyond.
With Rob Pelinka unwilling to trade his 2027 and 2029 FRPs unless he gets a bonafide All-Star in return, it’s safe to say that this roster will remain the same for the time being.
