The Los Angeles Lakers panicked at the first sight of danger against the Golden State Warriors.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to sign center Andre Drummond just over a month before the conclusion of the NBA’s regular season was a move interpreted as a reaction to the underwhelming performance of veteran Marc Gasol.
Acquired in the offseason, Gasol was a valued addition to the roster of the defending champions, not only because he filled the void on the interior left by the recently departed Dwight Howard but because of his ability to stretch the floor on the offensive side of the court; providing the type of space and cutting lanes that LA rarely featured except in those cases in which Anthony Davis played the five.
Yet, while Drummond’s presence has indeed relegated Gasol to the back end of Frank Vogel’s rotation, the more impactful story was that the big man’s arrival was yet another indication that the Lakers hoped to abandon playing AD at the center position, preferring to pair their franchise cornerstone with another interior defender.
Did the Los Angeles Lakers tip their hand too early in the playoffs?
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Less than one game into the 2021 playoffs, Los Angeles already has Davis back at the 5.
Operating against the Golden State Warriors in the first game of the play-in tournament, the Lakers found themselves on their back-heel for much of the game’s first half, thanks to a Golden State defense that proved stifling in the halfcourt.
Looking to bully their way towards the rim against the vertically-challenged Warriors, LA featured their usual rotation of Drummond and Montrezl Harrell alongside Davis, content in the belief that AD would not only be able to knock down his usual array of mid-range shots over the Golden State defense but that their backline bigs would be able to crash the offensive boards with enough regularity that the math would work itself out.
Instead, Draymond Green paced a Warriors’ defense that blitzed LA’s halfcourt sets with crisp rotations and timely double-teams that largely snuffed out the Lakers’ attack.
Consider the action late in the first quarter as Los Angeles fought back from an early 12-4 deficit.
Looking to isolate Draymond on an island against the taller Davis in the mid-range with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter, Alex Caruso provided an entry pass to AD near the elbow before running a crossing route towards the weak side in hopes of drawing his defender along with him.
While this action would typically result in Davis having a buffet of options against a single defender – I.e., backing his man down towards the lane before unleashing a turnaround hook-shot or facing him up with a dribble-drive move – the presence of Harrell near the dunker’s spot allowed Golden State to drop multiple defenders towards the paint, knowing that they would have enough time to recover towards the three remaining Lakers along the perimeter.
Sensing the trap waiting for him should he force the issue towards the basket, Davis reset the play with a pass out towards Kyle Kuzma atop the key. Hoping that the forward could spring loose on the action with a hard drive towards the lane, Davis immediately collected the ball back at the elbow but found that multiple Golden State defenders once again crowded out Kuzma’s path towards the rim thanks to Harrell’s inability to draw them away.
Left with few options and time quickly running down, AD attempted to force his way through the stoutly built Green towards an inside position before telegraphing a desperation pass towards Kuzma in the corner once Draymond would move no further. With multiple defenders still in the area, Kent Bazemore easily anticipated the move, jumping the passing lane before sparking a fast break that would fittingly send him to the line on a desperation foul by Davis.
It was a sequence that played out again and again for the Lakers in the first half as the team failed to generate the type of turnovers that would allow them to operate in transition where such spacing issues would cease to be a factor.
Faced with the prospect of playing the Memphis Grizzlies in a single-game elimination Friday night at Staples Center, Vogel broke the team’s “use in case of emergency” glass and deployed Davis at the center spot for a majority of the second half.
Where the Warriors could once crowd the lane – springing traps toward Davis as he attempted to move towards the basket and preventing any cutting routes the Lakers guards might operate in – the Lakers more versatile lineup forced Golden State to abandon their inside position, with a defender drifting out towards the corner to account for AD.
While the Warriors still emphasized defending the rim – with the Lakers only outscoring the perimeter-oriented club by eight points in the paint – the extra two feet of space between the defenders down-low was more than enough room for Los Angeles to operate.
It’s not that the lineups with AD at the 5 fundamentally changed the way the defense behaved, but rather that it forced just enough of an adjustment to provide precious inches of space. In a game this close, that proved to be the turning point.
Case in point, in one of the more highlight-worthy sequences of the entire game near the end of regulation, the Lakers began a high pick-and-roll between LeBron James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at the top of the key. With both Davis and Wesley Matthews – who also deserves recognition for helping save the day off the bench – forcing their men to shade toward the corners, James fired a quick pass out of the action towards Caruso, recognizing the clear line the point guard had to the rim. To their credit, while the Warriors were unable to snuff out the initial drive by the guard, the hyper-aware Green quickly rotated over to meet Caruso at the rim.
Unfortunately for Draymond, Caruso had no intention of going mano-a-mano with the defensive standout above the cylinder. Instead, the crafty point guard deftly wrapped the ball around the incoming Green and into the waiting arms of Anthony Davis, who promptly slammed it home to give LA the 2-point advantage after abandoning the corner with a dive of his own towards the basket.
All told, once he was no longer tethered to another big, Davis keyed the Lakers to an explosive half of basketball, with Los Angeles outscoring Golden State 61-45 in the final two frames and AD pitching in 13 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Yet, while the Lakers will breathe a sigh of relief now that a seven-game series stands between them and elimination, they will now face the reality of needing to employ Anthony Davis at the five, far sooner and far more often than they would otherwise prefer if their hopes for a second consecutive title are to continue.
To be clear, while both Drummond and Harrell are likely to see extended minutes of action alongside Davis as the team enters a first-round matchup against the Phoneix Suns, the Lakers “big” lineups will need to produce far more turnovers and offensive rebounds if they are to be offensively viable.
If not, Vogel may find himself inserting Gasol back into the lineup to create enough driving lanes for the half-court offense to survive while still sparing Davis the physical toll of manning the interior.
For the past two years, Los Angeles has walked a fine line of unleashing their franchise big man at the most critical moments while not leaning on him so heavily that the breaks. After nearly blinking against the Warriors, the Lakers and Anthony Davis may no longer have that luxury.