The seeds of Sunday night’s madness in the Orlando bubble, and the latest addition to the Laker franchise’s gallery of postseason moments, were planted June 15, 2019. That was the day the Lakers landed Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans, the day Davis and LeBron James got their wishes, and the day that sometimes quixotic quest for the franchise’s 17th title again got serious.
“This,” Davis told TNT’s Allie LaForce Sunday evening, “is what they brought me here for.”
Davis’ buzzer-beating three-pointer – officially a 26-footer according to the play-by-play sheet – for a 105-103 victory over Denver didn’t win a championship or even a series. There is still way too much work to do during this Western Conference Finals showdown with the stubborn Nuggets, never mind anything beyond that.
But given the circumstances – down a point, 2.1 seconds left when the ball was inbounded, against a team that has established it has no quit in it – this may have been the most inspiring L.A. walkoff since … well, you’ve got Kirk Gibson’s home run in 1988, Alec Martinez’ Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Kings in 2014, Robert Horry’s shot to beat Sacramento in the 2002 Western Conference Finals and Tyus Edney going the length of the floor for UCLA against Missouri in 1995. Not too many others leap to mind.
Not to brag, but I wrote it last summer, the day the trade went down:
“This is what the Lakers should be doing. It’s part of their DNA … (It) tells their fans and their city that this franchise still means business, even if there is still reason to question their front office structure.”
Nobody is questioning it now, of course. Moments like this – and in fact a season like this, elongated as it has been – have created a collective amnesia about those seven seasons in the playoff desert, those years when we sometimes weren’t sure exactly what the Lakers stood for beyond the gauzy memories of the past.
Games and series like this remind us of what that franchise does stand for. And there is but one regret about this particular buzzer-beater.
“The one thing I wish A.D. had tonight with the shot that he made, I wish we were playing at Staples,” LeBron James said. “I mean, we miss our fans so much. And I can only imagine. It probably would have blew the roof off Staples Center, A.D. hitting that shot tonight in Staples with our crowd. I would have loved for him to have that moment, because I know what it felt like for me.”
James’ reference was to Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference finals, when he hit a 25-footer with no time left, at home, to give Cleveland a 96-95 win over an Orlando team led by current Laker teammate Dwight Howard. But I suppose we should stop that comparison right there, because Orlando won that series in six (en route to losing in the Finals to the, um, Lakers).
Davis wanted this type of pressure, and this type of responsibility. That’s why he forced his way out of New Orleans. The Pelicans got to the second round once while he was there, but there was no assurance that it was going to get any better.
“Just because his teams haven’t been good enough to reach this moment (before now) doesn’t mean that he’s not that caliber of player,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “We saw that tonight. No surprise (to) me. No surprise (to) our whole group.”
There were no guarantees in L.A., either, when he arrived. But Davis teaming up with James provided the 1-2 punch that enabled Rob Pelinka to fill in around them, and the general manager has gone from presumed doofus to an Executive of the Year candidate – and I’d assume inquiries about his ring size – as a result.
The shot Davis made Sunday night was similar to one he took in the Lakers’ last pre-pandemic game, a three-pointer in front of the visitors bench with time running out against Brooklyn on March 10. That one he missed, in a 104-102 loss.
“LeBron will tell you,” Davis recalled. “I mean, probably the first four days I was like, ‘Damn, I should have made that shot. I’ve got to make that shot.’ He said, ‘You’re fine, you’re fine.’
“But I put more pressure on myself than anybody. I feel like every shot I take is supposed to go in, and I have enough confidence in my shot to make those type of plays.”
This one, he acknowledged, was the biggest of his career, and his first buzzer-beater for a victory. Again, that’s why he’s here.
“When I left (New Orleans) I just wanted to compete for a championship, and I know that moments like this come with it, especially in L.A., the biggest market in basketball,” he said.
It’s part of the Lakers legacy. And so is this: The Lakers wore their “Mamba Black” uniforms Sunday night, and Vogel was caught on the telecast telling his team it was a “Mamba shot,” one that Kobe Bryant would hit.
“We just play a little different” in those jerseys,” Davis said. “Our swagger is a little different. Every time we put on those jerseys, we’re representing him.
“Coach made sure we knew that in the huddle. He said, ‘Look at the jerseys you have on. He would have made big-time plays. So it’s time for us to make big-time plays.’ “
Done.
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