The Los Angeles Lakers are once again on a winning streak after reaching the six-game mark with Friday night’s victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder as they kicked off a four-game road trip. The defense has rightfully gotten the majority of the attention for the Lakers as they’ve spent most of the season as the NBA’s top-ranked unit although they’ve currently fallen to third in defensive rating.
However, the Lakers are looking like a more balanced team these days as their offense has climbed from being ranked as low as 19th early in the season to the No. 6 ranked offense after Friday’s win. A huge reason for that jump has been a more efficient and more aggressive outside shot from Anthony Davis.
Over the last four games, Davis is shooting 41.2% on 3-pointers and has taken his personal percentage up to 34% on the season after a dismal start from the outside. LeBron James says that the uptick in shooting by Davis is not an accident, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“We want him to take more 3s,” LeBron James said after Davis went 4-for-7 from 3-point range against the Thunder. “Teams are playing off of him, and he’s too damn good of a shooter not to shoot them. And he’s been doing that the last couple games.”
The Lakers built their team this offseason with outside shooting in mind, but their two superstars had struggled from the 3-point line to begin the season. Davis is providing a remedy to that while James has been a solid 34.5% on 3-pointers. James also made six 3-pointers in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks, so it looks like he also might be finding his outside shot to go with his league-leading assist numbers.
After a season in which shooting was a struggle, the Lakers have no worries about letting it fly and it’s resulting in some of the best offense the franchise has seen in years.