The Los Angeles Lakers’ rollercoaster start to the season continued Saturday as they held off the New Orleans Pelicans down the stretch for a 104-99 victory, their fifth in a row. Now with the longest active winning streak in the Western Conference, the Lakers are in fourth place with a 9-4 record.
This current hot streak, which was preceded by a 1-4 stretch, has been fueled by Anthony Davis, who was tremendous against his former team. Davis had 31 points and 14 rebounds on 12-of-20 shooting from the field for his eighth 30-point game this season.
As usual, Davis did most of his work in the paint and at the free throw line, but he was also 2-of-4 from behind the arc. In a vacuum, that’s not particularly notable, but this was the fifth straight game in which Davis hit multiple 3-pointers, the longest streak of his career. In these five games, Davis was 10 of 16 (62.5%) from 3-point range.
The Lakers have been begging Davis to shoot more 3-pointers for a few years to improve their spacing and boost their offense. Before last season, Darvin Ham went so far as to say he wanted Davis to win six a game. There was more of the same before this season from new coach JJ Redick, who saying Davis “has to be willing” to let it fly.
Davis has never been a high-volume 3-point shooter and didn’t even start shooting them regularly until his fourth season in the league. However, little by little he became a real threat from the center. Since 2018-20, which included his first season with the Lakers, he shot at least 33% each season and was 175-for-525 overall.
And then his jump shot virtually disappeared. Between 2021 and 2024, Davis was 87 of 351 (25%) on 3-point attempts. His mid-range game wasn’t much better. During those same four seasons, Davis was 302 of 761 (40%) from that area of the floor.
When Davis went 1-for-3 from deep in the Lakers’ season-opening victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, it looked like he might finally agree to the plan. Instead, he was 2-for-12 on 3-pointers in the Lakers’ first seven games and had multiple outings in which he didn’t make a single one.
But since returning from a one-game absence due to a heel contusion, Davis has flipped a switch. He’s looked extremely comfortable as a floor spacer and pick-and-pop threat, and he’s hit some huge 3-pointers late in games during this winning streak. It’s no coincidence that with Davis making it rain from 3, the Lakers have the best offensive rating in the league (122.6) during this stretch.
“It’s huge for our team,” Davis said of his shot after the Lakers’ win over the Grizzlies on Nov. 13. “A lot of guys will be in the paint and try to help, especially the big men. I was a victim of that.” a couple of times, but it’s just instinctive for a big to be in the paint, especially when one of the guards has the ball and is driving or in a post.
“So for me, being able to go out and make a couple of threes definitely put us over the hump and put the defense in a bind, especially the big men. They’re either going to leave me open or they’re going to have me. [LeBron James], [Austin Reaves], [Rui Hachimura]”Whoever is in the post or has the ball, has single coverage and gets to work.”
The big question now is: To what extent can Davis maintain this? Will he really commit to shooting two to four three-pointers per game? And if so, how many can you make? He’s obviously not going to shoot 60% for an extended period, but if he can get back into the 33% range, that represents a significant improvement over the last few seasons and would be a huge boost for the Lakers’ offense.
