Draymond has answer on how to beat Lakers
That was a quick answer from the Warriors’ irrepressible Draymond Green on how to defeat the Lakers after having been throttled by L.A.
“Play better,” said Draymond, avoiding the essay response.
Next question: Against a Lakers team that is not only bigger, stronger, and suddenly realizing its awesome potential, how?
Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals is Monday night, and all the Dubs and their fans can wish is that it in no way resembles Game 3 on Saturday night, a 127-97 mismatch.
Yes, only one game, and with adjustments (the magic word in the postseason) and the Warriors only trailing 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, the situation could very well flip. But that may depend as much on one player from the Lakers, the inconsistent Anthony Davis, as anyone on the Warriors.
And as a reminder, the Warriors, this season on the road have gyrated between bad and awful, an indication this isn’t the Golden State team of the recent past.
The issue in the sport is being able to dictate the style and pace of play, something the Warriors accomplished in the second game when they ran, defended, and shot with wild abandon (whatever that may be). But you can’t run when you don’t have the ball, and the Lakers choose not to run even when they had it.
For good reason.
The track meet style the Warriors prefer becomes the deliberate basketball that the Lakers play so well with AD, who Friday night once more was the monster unleashed (25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks), LeBron James (23 points), and one-time Warrior D’Angelo Russell (21 points).
The Warriors complained that early in the third quarter that, with the Lakers marching hither and yon to the free throw line, “the game stopped,” which is exactly how the Lakers liked it. That wasn’t the officials’ fault, it was the Warriors’ fault. They’ve always had reach-in foul problems. And with larger, more deliberate Lakers in their way, the Dubs on Saturday night were trying to get physical.
The Lakers had 37 free throws Friday night and made 28. The Warriors were 12 of 17. Stopped? They could have held a picnic in the interim. Or let the players take a nap.
What the Warriors took was a figurative punch to the gut. Questioned what it was like when the foul calls (and Lakers free throws) were growing and growing, Draymond Green, once again a man of few words, said only, “It’s frustrating.”
Draymond, of course, has a history of drawing technical fouls for the things he says or does so in this case if brevity is not necessarily the soul of wit, it is a brilliant option to avoid getting charged with a T.
It’s become apparent the 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis is the (sometimes tortured, frequently criticized) soul of the Lakers. When he isn’t injured or indolent, AD is overwhelming on offense, defense, and the glass.
If nothing else, and there is plenty else, he takes the opponents' attention away from LeBron, who even at age 38 is acknowledged still to be the best player in the sport.
You could say the Lakers have the Warriors on the run, but after getting stopped and pummeled in Game 3 that’s where the stagnant Warriors would prefer to be.