The Houston Rocketsstun the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Mike D’Antoni’s team was ready for everything Frank Vogel had and they did an outstanding job to containAnthony Davis.
Davis was supposed to be the Lakers’ X-Factor and give them a huge edge over the Rockets, the most undersized team in the league. However, the Unibrow clearly struggled to get things going with PJ Tucker as his primary defender.
The Rockets’ small-ball was just too much to handle for the Lakers’ spacing issues. Add James Harden and Russell Westbrook combining for 60 points into that mix and you have a recipe for disaster in Los Angeles.
Anthony Davis To Play At Center To Beat The Rockets
Now, however, it seems like Anthony Davis is willing to suck it up and make a key adjustment that has been haunting him for years: slide to the center spot and spend most of his minutes at the five.
“Anthony Davis is willing to slide up from power forward in this series, league sources told Yahoo Sports,”Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports confirmed ahead of their clash for Game 2 of the Series.
It’s been a tale of two stories for the Lakers all year long. They either look like an overpowered juggernaut ready to dominate the NBAor they look like an AAU team desperately craving someone to make a shot.
Nevertheless, the team has enough shooters to match up with the Rockets’ run-and-gun offense with the additions of JR Smith and Dion Waiters, and having Davis play at the five would certainly help with their spacing woes.
Frank Vogel has been reluctant to give his shooters the green light in the playoffs and neither Danny Green nor Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are getting the job done in the offensive end. Now, this minor adjustment could translate into a huge advantage for his team.
