Los Angeles Lakers: Anthony Davis is answering every question in the NBA Finals

Where’s the killer instinct?

We live in a media world where a huge portion of fans get their water cooler talking points from talking head analysts, many of whom are former players locked into their archaic ways of thinking. In some cases, even former players who have never won championships will wrap their critiques of a player around their inability to get it done in the playoffs.

In some cases, an inability to get things done in the playoffs is more a matter of an overmatched team than a player not being up for the challenge. Now and then, a player isn’t a winner until he is. In the eyes of these studio analysts, a player like Dirk Nowitzki might not be made of the right stuff, might be soft or unable to win the big one. Until he does.

There’s a narrative around Anthony Davis that suggests he doesn’t have a killer instinct, that he isn’t out for blood when he plays. It’s a simplistic and lazy view wrapped around the fact that in the past, he wasn’t able to have great playoff success. That’s right, in playoff runs where Jrue Holiday was his best teammate and you probably couldn’t name whoever his second-best running mate was, Davis didn’t win. And he’s not a winner because of it.

Life is easier when you’re playing with LeBron James, and Anthony Davis is reaping the benefits of being the best teammate James has had in his career. That’s what it takes to win big in the NBA playoffs, and having teammates that can help you win goes a long way towards proving you’ve got a killer instinct.

All claims that Anthony Davis does not are utterly superfluous.