The Los Angeles Lakers' roller coaster start to the season continued on Saturday when they held off the New Orleans Pelicans down the stretch for a 104-99 victory, their fifth in a row. Now boasting the longest active winning streak in the Western Conference, the Lakers are up to fourth place at 9-4.
This current hot streak, which was preceded by a 1-4 skid, has been powered by Anthony Davis, who was tremendous against his former team. Davis put up 31 points and 14 rebounds on 12 of 20 from the field for his eighth 30-point game already this season.
As usual, Davis did most of his work in the paint and at the free-throw line, but he also went 2 of 4 from behind the arc. In a vacuum, that's not particularly notable, but this was the fifth consecutive game that Davis made multiple 3s -- the longest such streak in his career. Over these five games, Davis is 10 of 16 (62.5%) from 3-point range.
The Lakers have been begging Davis to shoot more 3-pointers for a few years now in order to improve their spacing and boost their offense. Prior to last season, Darvin Ham went as far as to say he wanted Davis taking six a game. There was more of the same ahead of this campaign from new coach JJ Redick, who said Davis has "got to be willing" to let it fly.
Davis has never been a high-volume 3-point shooter, and didn't even start taking them regularly until his fourth season in the league. He slowly grew into a real threat from downtown, however. From 2018-20, which included his first season with the Lakers, he shot at least 33% each season, and was 175 of 525 overall.
And then, his jumper essentially disappeared. From 2021-24, Davis shot 87 of 351 (25%) on 3-point attempts. His mid-range game wasn't much better. During those same four seasons, Davis went 302 of 761 (40%) from that area of the floor.
When Davis went 1 of 3 from deep in the Lakers' season-opening win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, it seemed as though he might finally be on board with the plan. Instead, he shot 2 of 12 on 3s in the Lakers' first seven games and had multiple outings where he didn't take 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 has hit some huge 3s late in games during this winning streak. It's not a 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 about his shooting after the Lakers' win over the Grizzlies on Nov. 13. "A lot of guys will be in the paint and try to help, especially big men. I fell victim to it a couple times. But it's just instinctual for a big to be in the paint, especially when one of the guards has the ball and they're driving or in a post-up.
"So for me to be able to step out and make a couple 3s definitely put us over the hump and put the defense in a bind, especially the big men. They're either gonna leave me open or have [LeBron James], [Austin Reaves], [Rui Hachimura], whoever is in the post or has the ball, has single coverage and go to work."
The big question now is this: To what extent can Davis keep this going? Is he actually going to commit to shooting two-to-four 3s per game? And if so, how many can he make? He's obviously not going to shoot 60% over an extended period, but if he can even get back to the 33% range, that represents a significant improvement from recent seasons and would be a major boost to the Lakers' offense.
