Regular Season Series: 2-2
Keys:
Anthony Edwards Three-Point Shooting:
Edwards had a career-high in three-point attempts, made three-pointers, and three-point percentage. Can Edwards carry that into the playoffs?
What makes Edwards special is his ability to get to the basket. How does he balance his increased three-point shooting and putting pressure on the Lakers’ defense? Can Edwards do that if he’s averaging over 10 three-point attempts per game?
LeBron James’ Free Throws
James only averaged a career-low 4.7 free attempts per game. Prior to this season, his career-low was 5.7. Why is this so important on a team that has Luka Doncic? Because if the Lakers are going to make a deep run, they aren’t equipped to be a jump-shooting team. Unlike Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks team that made a run to last season’s NBA Finals, the Lakers aren’t a plus defensive team with rim protectors.
There will be a significant amount of games where they’re going to need to outscore their opponent. That means Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves will need to stuff the stat sheet on offense. At James’ age, that means getting to the free throw line in the playoffs at a 6+ free throw attempts per game rate.
