From the moment the team left Orlando in 2020, lakers Fans have been desperate for the return of Bubble Anthony Davis. A completely dominant force, AD controlled the game on both ends of the court and looked like the future stars of the franchise.
Injuries and inconsistent play have plagued Davis since then, but his play in recent contests was on par with bubble AD. Sunday’s performance was 30 points and 18 rebounds. win over spurs It was the third time in a row that he had at least 30 points and 15 rebounds, joining Shaq and Elgin Baylor as the Lakers to accomplish that feat.
All this comes with LeBron James out due to injury For the Lakers, it became even more important. After winning this weekend Davis spoke with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin And we discussed a conversation with LeBron about his recent play (emphasis mine).
“Obviously, when he misses, or I miss, we try to fill that void as best we can,” Davis told ESPN when asked about his ascension in James’ absence. .
The Lakers big man was meant to take on more of the burden in order to give James more time to recover, but he specifically planned it in return for what James did last season. It was not.
“We never talked about it, but But he said I was playing like I used to, so I’m trying to get back into that rhythm. “ Davis spoke to ESPN about feedback from James.
This latest version of AD is very different from Bubble AD in terms of playstyle. From a shot profile perspective, his 24% of AD’s shots during that playoff run were characterized by cleaning the grass as a long midrange jumper. By comparison, only 12% of his shots this season are long-midrange efforts.
Instead, Davis turned his attempts from distance into those at the rim. Only 36% of his shots were at the rim during his title run. His 54% of his shots have been at the rim this season. He has turned down shots that he has struggled with in recent years and is fully embracing being offensively centered by getting closer to the basket.
of A different type of advantage than Davis, which is even more impressive in some respects. Davis changed the game and returned to dominance.
Now, that’s just three games to overall playoff performance, so you can’t really compare. I can’t say for sure that AD has replicated his run in the bubble, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t playing at that level right now.
Unfortunately, given the state of this Lakers roster, it would require him to be a bubble AD for most of the rest of the season, even competitive. is showing.
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