EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Here are three takeaways from the Lakers’ 105-103 victory Sunday over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals:
1 Last fall, Anthony Davis finished his first practice with the Lakers and walked over to a throng of reporters.
He was interviewed about a variety of topics, mainly about how he'd fit in with the Lakers after they acquired him a few months earlier in a blockbuster trade.
When he finished, he slowly walked through the thick rows of reporters (Three? Four?) and said to nobody in particular, “This isn’t New Orleans.”
Welcome to the Lakers, AD.
If anyone wondered how he’d fare in the playoffs under the weighty expectations of a championship-craving franchise, the answer is becoming clear: Just fine.
Davis hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer Sunday against Denver, calmly taking the inbounds pass from Rajon Rondo and drilling a 26-foot three-pointer to give the Lakers the victory.
He then yelled, “Kobe” as he ran to jump into a celebratory group of teammates, an ode to the Laker legend who used to hit shots like that when it mattered most.
He finished with 31 points and the biggest shot of his life as the Lakers took a 2-0 series edge.
2 The Lakers had a problem when they resumed the regular season in Orlando after a four-month layoff because of coronavirus.
They couldn’t make any three-pointers.
They were the worst three-point shooting team of the 22 that were invited by the NBA to resume the season. They missed open looks, well-guarded looks, just about any type of look.
It got better once the playoffs began and the Lakers were actually eighth among the 16 playoff teams. Not bad, but certainly not great.
Then came Sunday. The Lakers made five three-pointers in the final eight minutes, each one more important than the previous one.
Danny Green started it with 7:19 to play, then Rondo added one, followed by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whose off-balance three-pointer came with one second left on the shot clock.
Davis got in the act with a step-back three-pointer with 3:03 to play, and then followed it up three minutes later with his game-winner.
Indeed, the team that seemingly couldn’t make a three-pointer a month ago had one for every finger on the human hand in the fourth quarter.
3 If Davis didn’t hit that three-pointer at the buzzer, Denver center Nikola Jokic would have had the shot that everyone talked about. That’s how close the Lakers were to losing Game 2.
Jokic’s tip-in of a teammate’s air ball with 31.8 seconds left gave the Nuggets a 101-100 lead. It was great timing on his part, part finesse and part power, and it should serve as a reminder that Denver won’t go away easily.
In fact, the Lakers don’t have Denver where they want them. A two-game lead shouldn’t mean much against a team that has already overcome 3-1 deficits in two playoff series, the first time that’s ever happened in the same season in NBA history.
Bottom line for the Lakers: Great Game 2 effort, but a Game 3 win Tuesday would really put some distance between them and an ultra-pesky Denver team.