Anthony Davis scored 30 points on 11-19 field goal shooting, grabbed 23 rebounds, passed for five assists, and blocked four shots to lead the L.A. Lakers to a 117-112 game one win at Golden State. Davis joined Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal as the only Lakers players to have at least 30 points, at least 20 rebounds, and at least five assists in the same playoff game. The Lakers outscored the Warriors in the paint 54-28, outrebounded the Warriors 53-49, and held the Warriors to .406 field goal shooting (43-106), including .415 (22-53) from inside the arc.
The Warriors made 21 three pointers and shot an excellent .396 from beyond the arc while the Lakers shot 6-25 (.240) from three point range--but the Lakers won by controlling the paint, mainly because of Davis but also with help from LeBron James, who had 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. The Lakers would have won more comfortably if James had not shot 1-8 from three point range and instead focused on attacking the paint. James scored 22 points on 9-24 field goal shooting, and when he stayed inside the three point arc he made half of his shots.
Dennis Schroder scored 19 points, shooting 5-10 from the field and 9-10 from the free throw line.
Stephen Curry did not duplicate the sparking productivity and efficiency he displayed while scoring 50 points in Golden State's game seven win at Sacramento; he finished with 27 points on 10-24 field goal shooting, and his fellow Splash Brother had similar numbers: 25 points on 9-25 field goal shooting. Jordan Poole contributed 21 points on 7-15 field goal shooting, but he fired up a wild shot from way beyond the arc with 9.7 seconds remaining and the Warriors only down by three points; he had plenty of time to get a better shot for himself or make one more pass, instead of letting the outcome of the game hinge on one low percentage shot: everyone goes crazy about logo shots when they go in, but they are low percentage shots, and but most of the time you can spell "logo shot" more simply: l-o-s-s. Kevon Looney had 10 points, 23 rebounds, and five assists, but no other Warrior had more than six rebounds.
I have repeatedly written about the importance of game one in general, and it is obviously significant to win a game one on the road, but let's not forget that the Warriors trailed 2-0 in the first round before eliminating the Kings, and they trailed 2-1 to the Boston Celtics in last year's NBA Finals before winning that series in six games. Statistically, most teams that lose game one or that fall behind 2-1 or 3-2 will lose, but the Warriors have proven capable of overcoming those odds.
Today will be a good day to skip watching or listening to the basketball talking heads, because one win by this particular Lakers team is likely to prompt collective insanity from the chattering class. When Anthony Davis dominates the paint at both ends of the court, it is difficult to beat the L.A. Lakers, a simple basketball truth that explains the ups and downs of the Lakers' 2022-23 season--but one can be certain that other game recaps are going to reference some combination of "lasers," how brilliant it was to trade future Hall of Famer Russell Westrbrook for three role players, and how important outside shooting is in the modern game because of the "gravity" it provides, which is just one aspect of the secret wisdom that only "stat gurus" have as a result of their special understanding of "advanced basketball statistics."
It is true that D'Angelo Russell played well in game one, scoring 19 points on 9-19 field goal shooting while passing for six assists. He shot 1-5 from three point range. This is the third time in seven playoff games this season that he scored at least 19 points, and the third time that he shot at least .450 from the field. He is making a solid contribution, but he did not singlehandedly turn the Lakers' season around (nor did getting rid of Westbrook amount to some form of addition by subtraction). Jarred Vanderbilt played good defense, grabbed six rebounds, and scored eight points on 2-7 field goal shooting. Malik Beasley, the third player acquired in the Westbrook trade, did not play and he has now fallen completely out of the rotation.
Anthony Davis missed 24 of the Lakers' first 51 games. He has missed just two games since that time, and he has played in all seven playoff games. The Lakers' midseason acquisition of a healthy Anthony Davis is, by far, their most significant "trade." The second most important acquisition for the Lakers is the return, to some extent at least, of the version of LeBron James that plays in the paint; as noted above, he is still jacking up way too many three pointers, but he is rebounding, he is playing defense on most possessions, and he is driving to the hoop sometimes. It is the play of the two members of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team that can open up opportunities for the rest of the roster, not the other way around. How dangerous would this Lakers team be if they had been willing and able to fully utilize Westbrook's skills?
It will be interesting listening to (or avoiding) all of the talk by the "experts" in the next few days, and then it will be very interesting to watch the rest of this series.