The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a disappointing loss at the hands of the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, falling apart in the third quarter after leading for much of the first half. It was a tough night for everyone, including superstar Anthony Davis. Despite his MVP-caliber trajectory, he was silenced by the Nuggets, posting 14 points on 6-for-19 from the field.
He was still strong defensively, tallying three steals and two blocks, but that wasn’t enough as the Lakers were ran out of the gym in the second half. The Nuggets won the third quarter 37-15 and won the second half 70-39.
But Davis wasn’t too concerned about his personal off night, saying that much of it comes down to making and missing shots.
“Just missed shots. I think they were all great looks,” Davis said. “It’s a miss or make league. I’ll make more than I’ll miss, for sure. You always wish you can make every shot. I’m confident in every shot that I took, shots that I normally make. All of us, to be honest. Shots that we all normally make, we just missed. But I liked every shot that I took tonight, they just didn’t go in.”
Davis has always been an efficient shooter from close range, making nights like Saturday a definite outlier. There is no reason for concern that he would continue to have nights like these moving forward. However, the missed shots pale in comparison with the team’s defensive effort in the second half.
Davis is right that it’s a make or miss league, but the margin for error on those makes and misses becomes razor thin when the Lakers rank 27th in the NBA in defensive rating. Davis absolutely will shoot better than 6-of-19 in future games, but if L.A. doesn’t improve their defense, his field goal percentages won’t matter nearly as much.
Anthony Davis: Frustration caught up with Lakers
Anthony Davis believed that the ease at which the Nuggets were scoring led to the Lakers’ frustration in the third quarter.
“I think it was just the frustration part. I mean, we were giving up so many backdoors to start the third, open 3s. Our defense on Michael Porter coming off, we were getting screened and he was making shots.
“When you play so well in the first half and then we come out like we did in that third quarter, giving up backdoors and 3s that were wide open, it’s definitely deflating. It’s not our defense. Then to combat that you go down and can’t make a shot so when it rains, it pours. We just got to be better on both ends of the floor.”
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