Luka Doncic may be the NBA's future, but Christmas was proof that the league's present still very much resides in Los Angeles. If anything, the heir to LeBron James' throne as the NBA's best player might just be his own teammate. Anthony Davis dominated to the tune of 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting en route to a 138-115 Lakers victory that pushed the defending champions back up to .500 at 1-1. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are now 0-2 as they await the return of star big man Kristaps Porzingis.
The Lakers' 138 points represent one of the best offensive performances of the LeBron James era. It would have been their second-highest total of last season, and it came in a game in which James and Davis totaled only 61 minutes. Dallas, meanwhile, has yet to solve the defensive issues that Porzingis' absence created. without a true rim-protector, they were no match for a Lakers team that has meaningfully improved upon last season's championship roster.
Things only get easier for the Lakers from here. Seven of their next eight opponents missed the 2020 playoffs. The Mavericks, meanwhile, have to take on the other star-studded Los Angeles team, the Clippers, next on Sunday. Here are the four biggest takeaways from their Christmas showdown.
1. D stands for "depth"
"Who is the Lakers' third scorer?" was the predominant question of the 2019-20 season. It ultimately turned out not to matter. The Lakers were so good on defense that it only took a bit of timely shooting to carry the James-Davis duo over the top. With an offseason to address that lack of supplementary scoring, Rob Pelinka went to work. He came away with last season's top two Sixth Man of the Year finishers: Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell, and their impact has been pronounced thus far.
Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were the third and fourth-leading scorers on last season's roster, and in total, they accounted for around 17.7 percent of the team's total points. The Schroder-Harrell combination has scored approximately 28.7 percent of the Lakers' points so far this season, and they helped the Lakers accomplish a rare feat by last season's standards on Christmas: winning the minutes James spent on the bench. Kuzma, at best, has been relegated to the status of fifth-scorer on this roster. That's a terrifying notion for the teams hoping to knock the Lakers off of their pedestal as the NBA's best team.
2. Dallas isn't close to full strength
Dallas' opening-night loss to Phoenix was familiar. After finishing 2-11 in one-possession games last season, they failed to close yet another game in the fourth quarter on Wednesday. The Christmas demolition they experienced against the Lakers is another matter, and one more emblematic of the concerns facing this team without Kristaps Porzingis.
The Lakers won the rebounding battle by 26. Porzingis might've closed that gap. He might've made it harder for the Lakers to double-team Doncic or pick him up full-court, which the Lakers did throughout their win. Merely having Luka is going to keep the Mavericks afloat. They'll remain in the playoff race until Porzingis returns, and rise up the standings afterward. But the idea that Dallas could thrive without its second-best player took a major hit tonight, and with it, so did Doncic's MVP hopes.
3. LeBron is embracing his age
Let's take a quick look at LeBron's shooting over the past several seasons
|
Season |
3-Point attempts per game |
|
2015-16 |
3.7 |
|
2016-17 |
4.6 |
|
2017-18 |
5 |
|
2018-19 |
5.9 |
|
2019-20 |
6.3 |
There's a general trendline here. As James has gotten older, he's relied more and more heavily on 3-pointers. Beyond that, he's relied more and more heavily on long 3-pointers. James took 21 30-foot shots last season. He never topped 14 in a single season before that. There's common sense to this. Shooting 3s is easier on the body than attacking the basket, especially when those 3s are wide open (which further shots tend to be). The more possessions James spends spacing the floor, the more energy he can preserve for the moments in which he needs to turn into an attacker.
He's pushed this approach even further so far this season. LeBron has taken eight 3-pointers in each of the first two games the Lakers have played this season. That's impressive, but even more so when you remember that he has played only 59 total minutes this season. James spent over 32 percent of his field-goal attempts on 3s last season, a career-high, but this season? He's at 45.7 percent. No two LeBron seasons are alike. He tweaks his game constantly to accommodate teammates and his own aging. But this is his most aggressive pivot yet, and the best chance we'll ever have of seeing him post an elite overall 3-point shooting season.
4. Christmas Kuzma
Look, four-game samples are meaningless, but if you're looking for a fun holiday stat, Kyle Kuzma basically turns into Stephen Curry on Christmas. As a rookie, he shot 6-of-11 from behind the arc in his holiday debut, and has followed that up by hitting eight of his 19 3-point attempts in the three Christmas games he's played since. That's a total of 14-of-30, or 46.6 percent compared to a 33.1 percent mark for his career at large. Calling him Curry might be underselling him. Golden State's two-time MVP has made only 43.4 percent of his career long-range attempts.
Is it sustainable or meaningful? Not in the slightest. But, hey, if you're a Laker, you're probably going to play in plenty of Christmas games, so a little holiday magic doesn't hurt.
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