There is no context for Anthony Davis

Two months of incomprehensibly elite play

BY DAVID THORPE

The Lakers entered the bubble missing Avery Bradley, one of their best defenders. LeBron James was only sometimes dominant, and other times noticeably icing his groin. They didn’t just lose five of their first eight games, they also had things break in an unlucky way so they faced the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. Home-court advantage didn’t exist this year, so they didn’t even have that, and sure enough, the Blazers took Game 1. On TNT, Charles Barkley predicted a Blazers sweep. 

A few minutes into Game 2, with the Lakers clinging to a 5-point lead, guard Alex Caruso made a mistake: He fed the ball to Davis, running down the middle of the floor, at full speed.

On its face, it was brilliant. Davis had left one Portland big man, Hassan Whiteside, in the dust. The other, Jusuf Nurkic, was not in the paint. This was an opportunity. I expected Davis to post up deep near the rim, but Caruso found him much earlier, still on the move, headed into the teeth o…