Anthony Davis was missing in action in the Lakers’ loss to the Miami Heat in game three of the Finals. The Lakers could have been one game away from becoming NBA Champions, but the Heat managed to stop the Lakers offense and ride the Jimmy Butler wave to a big win. While LeBron still had 25 points and was 2 assists shy of a triple-double, Davis had a bad game.

LeBron believes that Davis struggled the way he did because he was in foul trouble.

AD scored just 15 points all game in almost 34 minutes of action. His minutes were lesser than usual because AD found himself in foul trouble early and had to sit stretches in the first half. But even when he was on the court, Davis was just not effective. He took nine shots all game and made six. Davis is usually unstoppable, and his efficiency shows that. However, the Heat defense never let him get comfortable enough to take multiple shots.

Anthony Davis to take the blame for game three loss?

While the finger is usually pointed towards LeBron James, today he may be in the clear. While the eight turnovers by LeBron didn’t help matters, he still kept his scoring touch to ensure the Lakers stayed competitive. AD on the other hand seemed to pack it in after a point, getting visibly frustrated with the Heat’s defense on him.

It must be noted that AD is a Finals rookie and has never played a game this intense before. LeBron struggled with building the Finals mentality initially, and now AD seems to have faced his first stumbling block.

Davis needs to keep his aggression and not let the other team get to him. AD has proven himself as nearly unstoppable against this Heat team. However, they did stop him tonight which means he needs to rethink his play and come with a different mentality to take a 3-1 series lead.