Lakers fans can forget “campus eyebrows”. Before this season, it was indeed Anthony Davis with the strongest form. But this season, Davis played a performance that surpassed the “campus eyebrow” in different ways.
On December 5th, Beijing time, in the first battle of the Lakers 130-119 beat the Wizards, Davis played in 38 minutes 30 shots 22, of which three points 3 shots 2, plus 9 free throws all scored 55 points, 17 rebounds, 3 Times cover, brush the record.
Davis was the first Lakers player to score at least 50 points and 15 rebounds after Wilt Chamberlain in 1969. The last time a player in the league scored at least 50 points, 15 rebounds, 3 caps and reached 70% in field goal percentage, which dates back to December 2, 1990, when Ewing shot 50 points, 15 rebounds, 3 Blocked, hit rate 71%. Davis scored at least 40 points and 15 rebounds in 19 single games. In the past 37 years, he and “big shark” O’Neal tied for the first place.
Davis, who served as a full-time center, is the same as the three legendary centers. Davis played the ruling performance in the No. 5 position that he had resisted.
In the past two seasons, Davis’s performance has disappointed everyone. It seemed that Davis left the Orlando park with his magic feel and luck when the Lakers left with the championship trophy.
Due to injuries, Davis played only 36 games and 40 games respectively in the past two seasons, and the attendance rate plummeted. Davis’s long-distance two-point shooting rate in the 2020 playoffs was 55 percent against the sky, with various dry and show operations on the way to the Championship, but it fell to 33 percent and 41.3 percent in the past two seasons.
Davis suffered a lot of doubts, and the outside world criticized him for not being self-disciplined enough to lead to physical well-being and not working hard enough to lead to technical failure. There are even rumors that the Lakers management began to consider trading Davis.
Davis felt very wronged. It was obviously a plan for him and the Lakers to increase his muscles and gain weight. He spent a lot of time in the power room during the off-season, why is it evaluated as “self-discipline leads to happiness”? Several injuries were obviously too bad luck. If it weren’t for his targeted strength training in the early stage, his injuries might have been more serious. Why did they become evidence of his “too glass? The decline in performance is obviously related to the rosters configuration and a large number of injuries. Why would the Lakers consider sending him away?
“It’s not my fault for two injuries in the 2021-22 season,” Davis said. “Someone pressed my leg, causing an injury to the medial collateral ligament of my knee, this is the same as Kevin Durant’s injury. It is beyond my control to step on other people’s feet and get hurt by others. It’s not that my body shape is out of shape or other reasons cause me to be injured. In fact, the doctor also told me that without the strength training during the off-season, my injury might be more serious, maybe a fracture, maybe a catastrophic serious injury such as knee ligament tear.
However, competitive sports is the result-only theory. It is useless for Davis to be wronged again. In the end, he still has to go back to the court to prove himself.
In the offseason of 2022, Davis said, “I haven’t touched the ball since I missed the play-off” and pushed him to the forefront of the storm. But in fact, shooting practice in the offseason was not his main goal. According to Lakers coach Ham, it is Davis’s job to improve the strength of each joint in the power room. On the one hand, it is to reduce the risk of Davis’s injury, and on the other hand, it is to prepare Davis for a full-time center.
This season, Davis’s three-point hit rate and long-distance two-point hit rate are only 33.3%, and the two data of “campus eyebrow” are 38.2% and 55.2% respectively. However, the field goal percentage of 59 percent of Davis is higher than that of 57 percent of “campus eyebrow.
Everything comes from the preparations during the off-season. This season, Davis has become a full-time center upgraded compared with the traditional center. There are Hamm’s system, LeBlanc James and Russell-Westbrook traveling at different peaks to feed cakes, davis played the strongest internal attack in his career. He used layup and dunk instead of middle distance dry shooting.
In the past two years, Davis’s jump shot rate of barely more than 30% has attracted countless complaints. This season, his jump shot rate is only 36%. If the jump shot is not allowed, then less shot and more shots will be concentrated in the basket.
Davis made 9.1 shots restricted area near the basket, the third in the league, second only to adtokunbo and Zion Williamson. However, Davis has a higher hit rate of 76.4% restricted area near the basket. The upgrade of Davis compared with other internal lines is that he also has soft hand feeling in the so-called throwing area inside the forbidden zone and outside the three-second zone. When his face frame hits, he can use throwing, and the hit rate reaches 44.7%. Taken together, Davis scored 18.1 points in the penalty area this season, the second place in the league, second only to adtokunbo.
After Davis reduced the average number of shots to 3.3, his average distance between each shot and rim this season was shortened to 7.1 feet of his shortest career, which was the season with the highest impact on the forbidden zone.
In terms of scoring methods, Davis’s wild bombing of the attack relied more on blocking, dismantling, shunting and secondary attacks.
Davis’s benefits of playing center are reflected in these two links. In the past, there was a traditional center beside Davis, which dragged down the space. Davis didn’t have any space to shoot after he covered it. He was also blocked by opponents outside and it was difficult to compete for offensive rebounds. But now the inside line is only himself. When he stops and disconnects, he can either directly back to the position, or directly attack or fight for the offensive rebound in the receive the ball.
The Lakers adjusted the position of the block and split and the breakthrough strength of the ball holder. Due to the lack of core control guards that can block and split in downtown, the Lakers set the position of the block and tear down more in the three-point line, one step or even freethrow line, and the players and the cover could be closer to RIM.
“When I set cover, the defender can directly break through. I just try my best to inside shooting. If they fail in the basket themselves, I will also face the defender’s defense, and I can have the opportunity to grab the offensive rebound, “Davis once interpreted this style of play.
This season, Davis covered more than 42 rounds, the highest record of the Lakers career. When Davis covered, the frequency of cutting out after every hundred covers was the lowest in his career. He used the advantage of body shape to crush the basket, or used the hand feeling to throw out the basket in three seconds, its Shield Shield man scored 1.33 points in each round of receive the ball attacks, a new career plus the highest league. James and weishao took turns to feed the cake, and weishao gave Davis 10.3 passes, forming 2.2 assists. Davis received weishao’s hit rate of 55.4 percent. James’s three data are 8.4 times, 1.8 times and respectively. Whether it is weishao or James, their cooperation with Davis is far better than last season.
In addition, the frequency of Davis’s second attack increased, and he scored 4.9 points on the second attack, which was the first in the league.
In the past, the Lakers placed a traditional center on the 5th position. They did not control the dismantling of the hand. Howard, Mackey, little Gasol and Drummond played the center. There was no one who could take the ball and cover. Davis solved the problem by playing center. When he broke down the shield, the Lakers lost 0.81 points per round, ranking first among the 46 players who had defended at least 250 times. In order to reduce Davis’s defensive pressure, Ham made him stick to drop (the so-called potty chair) more this season. This is a strategy to give full play to Davis’s ability to hold the ball and cover people. In these rounds, the Lakers lost 0.75 points per round, and Davis ranked second in the league.
When we looked back at what Hamm said when he took office, “the defensive end helped Davis reduce the burden, and the offensive end made Davis eat more cakes and prevented him from shooting hard shots from the first quarter, both ends of attack and defense help him reduce the burden and reduce the probability of injury.” these Hamms have done it. Davis responded with the high attendance rate of 20 games in 22 games and the strongest attack and defense performance in his career.
It is too early to discuss Davis’s competition for MVP in the regular season, but at least, healthy Davis has played a dominant role beyond the peak season in a new way. This is the best news for the Lakers who are eager to climb out of the mud.