Davis eyes big rebound in Game 4

There is no escaping a bad night in the bubble.

No going out for a good time. No getting away from the teammates a player feels he let down.

There is only time to ponder it and think about how to correct it.

That’s OK with Anthony Davis. “I know it’s always beneficial to get away and kind of forget about it, but when you’re here, you have to embrace that,” Davis said Monday. “You can’t really run from it.” Davis had only 15 points in Game 3, 18 fewer than he averaged in the first two games. He was foul-prone early and puzzlingly passive late in the Lakers’ 115-104 loss that cut their lead over the Heat to 2-1.

The forward/center had been perhaps the dominant player in the first two games of the finals and there was no reason to think that wouldn’t continue against an undermanned opponent that was missing its best defensive option against him.

But despite Bam Adebayo’s absence, the 6-foot-10 Davis took only nine shots and had as many turnovers (five) as rebounds.

The Lakers were outscored by a whopping 26 points when Davis was in the game.

“It sucks just because you know if you play well and had done your job, then you possibly could have won the game,” Davis said.

Game 4 is Tuesday. The Lakers followed their three previous postseason losses by winning the remaining games in each series, and Davis averaged 33 points in the games immediately after the defeats.

LeBron James expects a similar recovery Tuesday.

“I expect him to be AD,” James said.

Davis largely ignores everyone not with the Lakers organization.

“The good thing for me, I’m not a big social media guy, so I have it but I’m not really on it ... especially after nights like last night,” he said. “A lot of people get caught up in the news and the social media and what everybody is saying. But I don’t really care about it too much.”