Anthony Davis ‘confident’ in Lakers’ gameplan for Game 5 vs. Nuggets

Murray is questionable for Game 5 with a calf strain. The Lakers — namely Austin Reaves and Gabe Vincent — have held the Nuggets guard to under 40% shooting in all four games. In general, the Lakers have guarded the defending champions about as well as possible in this series, except for a handful of game-changing surges. The Lakers have led for 136 of 192 minutes (70.8%) in the series.

“We’ve been pretty good defensively,” said Davis.

For Monday night, Davis cited rebounding, transition defense, and attacking the paint as three key points of emphasis. He also mentioned maintaining an offensive pace in the third quarter.

“Just attacking and staying confident whether shots go in or not,” he said.

The Lakers established double-digit first-half leads in the first four games. On Saturday, in front of an apprehensive Crypto.com Arena crowd and facing a 12th straight loss to the Nuggets, the Lakers — out of pride, desperation, probability, or genuine progress — never let go of the rope. When Denver cut the lead to seven with 3:41 left in the quarter, Vincent hit a 3-pointer to squelch any run. LeBron James and AD sealed the deal from there.

“We have a lot of confidence in our team,” Davis said after Game 4. “We’ve had the lead a lot this series. And it’s just been our second half where we haven’t, actually our third quarters, where we haven’t been able to execute at scoring the basketball. So our confidence was never lost at any point in the game.”

On an individual level, Davis has every reason to be confident, regardless of Nikola Jokic’s inevitable production. AD’s work on the glass in Game 4 — 23 rebounds, 20 defensive — single-handedly swung the rebounding advantage in the Lakers’ favor. They’d been fatally outrebounded in the first three games.

After playing a career-high 76 games in the regular season — plus the In-Season Tournament final and a play-in game — Davis is averaging 30.5 points and 15.8 rebounds on 62.2% shooting in 42.0 minutes against Denver.

“You train all summer and throughout the course of the season to be able to play a substantial amount of minutes in the playoffs, to be ready to perform in the playoffs, and that’s what I tried to do,” Davis said at shootaround.

AD is listed as questionable for Game 5 with a wrist sprain, but he’s certain to play.

Jarred Vanderbilt, out since Feb. 3 with a foot sprain, was upgraded to questionable.

“Another defensive presence,” Davis said about the prospect of Vanderbilt contributing in Game 5. “Able to guard the ball, rebound. … We didn’t see it as much this year cause he’s been hurt, but he’s been really good offensively, as well … Not sure how much he’ll be able to play, but just having his presence on the floor will definitely help us.”