Lakers News: Anthony Davis Discusses Dual Approaches To Defending Nikola Jokic
Los Angeles Lakers star center Anthony Davis had a stellar opening Western Conference Finals performance despite his team's 132-126 Game 1 loss to the Denver Nuggets. The 6'10" big man scored 40 points while shooting 14-of-23 from the floor and 11-of-11 from the foul line, pulled down 10 boards, dished out three assists, logged three steals and blocked two shots.
As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN details, AD opened up the game defending Nikola Jokic man-to-man, and while he did have some nice moments -- forcing the two-time MVP into tough jumpers, deflecting or blocking some of his shots -- it ultimately didn't do much to impede Jokic's teammates from getting more or less whatever they wanted, particularly point guard Jamal Murray (31 points), ex-Lakers champ Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (21 points) and reserve guard Bruce Brown (16 points).
Down the stretch of the bout's fourth quarter, head coach Darvin Ham made a pivot, sticking reserve power forward Rui Hachimura onto Jokic as his primary defender, while Davis was moved onto Denver power forward Aaron Gordon. Given Gordon's relatively limited trajectory as a shooter (he generally hangs around the dunker's spot), this gave Davis some room to maneuver around the paint, where he could effectively dissuade other Nuggets players from going.
Davis spoke about figuring out which defensive approach would work best for him going forward.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks," Davis said, per Youngmisuk. "I got to figure it out. And I got to help everybody. That's my job on this team, to help everyone defensively, protect guys."
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