After the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals, Draymond Green recorded an episode of his podcast and talked about how the Dubs shut down Anthony Davis.
“Got him to miss some shots,” Green said. “Really wanted to make sure I was gettin’ a contest. And if he hit shots, you have to live with that. AD’s a great player as we all know. Future Hall of Famer, NBA champion, perennial All-Star, you name it, both ends of the floor. Absolutely incredible player. And I think my mindset was just to make it tough on him. No secret sauce. Like it’s just to make him take tough shots. If you could make a guy take tough shots, you have to live with the results because a guy like that, like you don’t shut down great players like Anthony Davis. You just try to make them take tough shots and you live with the results. And I think we did a lot better job on him tonight. He finished with 11 (points), seven (rebounds) and four (assists). Last game he had 30 (points), 23 (rebounds) and five (assists).
“So it was obviously well known that we needed to do a much better job on AD coming into this game and I can’t take all the credit for that. So when you’re guarding a guy like that, it’s a complete team effort and our guys did the job collectively. And we were able to give AD to have a tough night.”
After putting up 30 points, 23 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in Game 1, Davis finished with only 11 points and seven rebounds in Game 2 while shooting 5-of-11 from the field. The eight-time All-Star turned the ball over four times and finished with a plus-minus of -22.
Anthony Davis: ‘I Took All the Same Shots I Took in Game 1’
Davis told reporters after Game 2 he liked the looks he got and that he just missed shots he normally makes.
“I took all the same shots I took in Game 1,” Davis said. “Just missed ’em. Elbow jumpers. Pocket passes to the floater. Same exact looks. (I) didn’t shoot no shot that I didn’t shoot in Game 1. Just missed ’em. That’s all. Like Bron said, they made adjustments. Shot the ball extremely well from 3. So, we’ll be better. I’ll be better (at) making those shots. Get back home on our home floor and try to take care of business.”
Davis is averaging 20.8 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 4.1 blocks in these playoffs. However, he hasn’t been able to have two strong games in a row. The Chicago native had 22 points in Game 1 of the first round versus the Memphis Grizzlies, 13 in Game 2, 31 in Game 3, 12 in Game 4, 31 in Game 5 and 16 in Game 6. Not much has changed for Davis in the conference semifinals, as the Kentucky product has started the Warriors series with 30 points in Game 1 and 11 in Game 2.
LeBron James Knew the Warriors Would Make Adjustments After Game 1
LeBron James has faced the Warriors four times in the NBA Finals, so he knew Golden State would make adjustments after losing Game 1.
“They made their adjustments and we knew they were gonna do that,” James said. “That’s what a championship team does and they held serve on their home court tonight and we gotta obviously see the adjustments they made. We gotta make our adjustments.”
Game 3 of this series is on May 6 at Crypto.com Arena.
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Draymond Green Reveals How Warriors Shut Down Lakers’ Anthony Davis in Game 2