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Welcome to the latest — and a special extended — edition of “My Three Favorite Details,” a weekly video series in which I detail three plays or moments from the previous week of Lakers games that jumped off the screen to me, with one play highlighting elite movement mechanics, one highlighting physical attributes (speed, power, balance, agility, etc), and one highlighting mental skills (awareness, anticipation, reading of the game).
Today’s video encompasses the Lakers’ bounce-back victory in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series, setting up a Game 5 championship close-out opportunity tonight.
These were some of my favorite things that I noticed:
So there you have it. Kyle Kuzma continues to showcase his defensive growth with superb perimeter defense and calm contests, key trade deadline acquisition Markieff Morris showcases his versatility with a beautiful rip-through drive and dump off to Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope shows his improvement as a decision-maker with a key drive and kick out for a three and Kuzma rises up to the moment and takes a three without hesitation after a bad turnover on the previous play (highlighting his mental growth, what a year for him).
Anthony Davis also put on a show with his defensive versatility by switching onto Kendrick Nunn and blocking the ensuing drive and contesting the rebound on one leg, and lastly, but certainly not least, LeBron James did things only LeBron James can do by exploding through a soft hedge into the paint and taking on Jae Crowder for a critical And-1 to stem a Miami Heat 4th quarter run.
That’s it for this edition of my three favorite details, but I’m going to be doing these here and on my YouTube channel on a weekly basis throughout the Lakers’ current run. If that run does continue beyond tonight, and you see something you think should be included during the week, tweet it at me at @3cbPerformance, or let me know if there was anything you loved from last week in the comments below. If it doesn’t, I enjoyed doing these with all of you, and hope you enjoy tonight’s festivities.
Dr. Rajpal Brar has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 1.5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), and analyzes the Lakers from a medical perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and Laker Film Room.