By: Adam El-Zein

In a Wednesday night, nationally televised NBA game, two of some of the league’s most dominant big men went head-to-head. In that matchup, only one has beaten the other, and beaten him 10 times. Domantas Sabonis has been merely too much for Anthony Davis to handle. The Lithuanian giant is constantly outplaying The Brow, but exactly how dominant has he been over Davis?

The Numbers Tell a Different Story

While it would be easy to think the Kings’ big man has been putting up monster numbers against Davis throughout his career, it’s actually the opposite. Sabonis is averaging 13 points and 11 boards in his 10 games against Davis. As for Davis, he’s averaging 10 more points and the same amount of rebounds. 

For the Lithuanian, it’s his early career in Oklahoma City that’s brought those averages down. In those 4 games on the Thunder, he’s averaged 5 ppg and 3 rpg in 18 minutes of play-time a game. Those 4 wins came from being on a better team than Davis was. OKC had a 47-35 record that year, and the New Orleans Pelicans had a 34-48 record. In his rookie year, Sabonis simply had a more lethal squad.

Domination in Recent Years

The two big men have matched-up 6 times since 2019. Sabonis has been nothing shy of great in those head-to-heads. He’s averaging 19 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists in those games. Davis is putting up the same amount of points, 5 less boards and 4 less assists. 

In last night’s game, Sabonis had a triple-triple double. Yet, it’s not all about the numbers that are showing his impact on the court. During the game, Sabonis was hounding Davis. He was putting a body on him, and making it very difficult for him to be a winning factor. This is all right after Davis had a historic performance against the Timberwolves, in a game where he put up 27 points, 25 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals and 3 blocks. 

A Physical Force

The Kings’ big man is leading the league in rebounds, and has had a double-double in 48 straight games. That’s only 5 games from Kevin Love who holds the record for the longest double-double streak. Standing at an equal height to Davis, Sabonis simply plays bigger. He’s very physical, and it tends to be those bully ball, Nikola Jokic type players that give Davis the most problems. 

 

For much of his career, Davis has played the Power Forward position. Going forward, it might benefit the Lakers to slot him back in at the four, and bring in a bigger body to man the middle. The Lakers saw much success with that in their 2020 championship year, where they played Dwight Howard at the five, with Davis at the four. The Kings currently hold the sixth seed in the west, and the Lakers are now down to the Ninth seed. With only a month left of the season, it’ll be interesting to see what adjustments each team makes this final stretch.