The Los Angeles Lakers obviously need more from Anthony Davis in Game 4 of the NBA Finals after the star center had perhaps his most anonymous game of the playoffs, only taking nine shots and grabbing a measly five rebounds. But the Lakers also need more, at some point in this series, from their wings in the starting lineup.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has at least had a moment to look back on, with his play in the first quarter of Game 1 being a catalyst for their win. But ever since, he’s gone ice cold from the field and he’s only 5 for 20 from the 3-point line in the series. Meanwhile, his counterpart on the opposite wing Danny Green, has been even worse, going 4 for 20 from the 3-point line in the first three games of the series. Green, while still a starter and the highest-paid player on the team outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, is now on the outskirts of the Lakers rotation.
Those guys have been fine,” Vogel said after the Lakers’ 115-104 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, according to SB Nation’s Christian Rivas. “They have been great for us all year. We have to execute as a group better. If we execute as a group better, have more intent to get higher shot quality, then those guys will be fine.”
Green has been supplanted for almost the entire playoffs in the closing lineups by Alex Caruso. Now that Caruso is also shooting the ball better (4 for 10 from the 3-point line in the Finals) than Green, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Caruso doesn’t continue to get those minutes. But for the Lakers to close out the Heat, Green and Caldwell-Pope have got to cash in the looks LeBron creates for them.
