The Los Angeles Lakers look to take a 3-1 lead in their second round NBA playoff series when they host the Golden State Warriors Monday night in Hollywood.
Tipoff is slated for 10:00 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena where BetOnline has the Lakers as -3.5 point favorites. The total is 227.5. The $64 thousand dollar question is which Anthony Davis will show up? The dominating player from Games 1 and 3 or the one who was a non-factor in Game 2?
Los Angeles Lakers (50-42, 2-1)
The Lakers looked every bit the part of a serious championship contender in Saturday’s 127-97 rout of the Warriors. Anthony Davis scored 25 points with 13 rebounds as the Lakers took a 2-1 series lead.
Anthony Davis vs Golden State Warriors
25 PTS
13 REB
3 AST
3 STL
4 BLK
7/10 FG
11/12 FT
+28 in 33 minutes.#Lakers W.#LakeShow #NBA #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/E6QoTa45uI— A Walking Highlight (@11AWH) May 7, 2023
Davis also got it done on the defensive end:
Another defensive masterclass by Anthony Davis.
Some of the highlights 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/hlnYW3kJub
— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) May 7, 2023
The concern Laker fans have with Davis is his ability to put big games back-to-back. In game 1, the LA big man dominated with 30 points and 23 rebounds. But in the Game 2 loss, A.D. had just 11 points on 5 of 11 shooting.
LeBron James added 21 points despite not taking a shot from the field in the first quarter:
Don’t take LeBron James for granted. pic.twitter.com/J3PzoPtU8Y
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 7, 2023
D’Angelo Russell also scored 21 points as the Lakers responded in a big way from their 127-100 loss in Game 2. The Lakers closed the first half on a 30-8 run and were never threatened after that.
Golden State Warriors (49-43, 1-2)
Stephen Curry scored 23 points and Andrew Wiggins added 16 points with nine rebounds for the defending champion Warriors.
Klay Thompson scored 15 points for the Warriors, who shot 39.6 percent from the field and had 19 turnovers. Golden State converted 29.5 percent of its shots from 3-point range after shooting 50 percent from distance in Game 2.
Surprising lack of poise from Golden State
The defending champion Warriors also seemed to lose their composure late in the first half. Moses Moody picked up a flagrant foul for this move on A.D.:
Moses Moody received a flagrant 1 foul for tripping Anthony Davis. pic.twitter.com/Axy61dR36W
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 7, 2023
Two minutes later, JaMychal Green was hit with a technical foul. Fast forward three minutes, Draymond Green picked up his own tech. And amazingly 14 seconds later, Donte DiVincenzo was called for a three-second violation, resulting in one more technical foul.
The Warriors saw the Lakers attempt 37 free throws to their 17. They committed 19 turnovers for 27 points. They shot 13-of-44 from 3.
Final thoughts
Despite being down in the series, the Warriors aren’t in panic mode quite yet. They trailed Sacramento 2-1 before coming back to win the series in seven games. The Warriors have faith they can assert their dominance on the Lakers once again.
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