Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players need to step up in NBA playoffs vs Blazers
2. JaVale McGee
On a stacked Lakers team with a wide variety of scorers, JaVale McGee has done a tremendous job playing around these guys, while also being a defensive anchor with 3.0 blocks per 36 minutes.
Since the beginning of the season, he’s been sharing the center spot with Dwight Howard, and even though Howard is playing a bit more, Javale’s the one that has been holding on to that starting spot.
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His length and athleticism allow him to form a dynamic duo with LeBron. The list of players able to defend the pick-and-roll between those two is very limited and is one of the reasons behind James’ assist title this season.
Since moving into the bubble, Javale has been averaging a mere 4.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. His defensive skills are nowhere to be found, allowing more and more opponents to have an easy time around the rim. Making a video of his blocking highlights in the bubble would be fairly easy as there are only two of them during this 7-game span.
If the Los Angeles Lakers wish to have a quiet and easy playoff series against the Blazers, JaVale has got to step up and stick to Jusuf Nurkic like glue. The Bosnian has been terrific so far, averaging 17.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, including a terrific play-in game.