The Los Angeles Lakers are on the brink of elimination in the NBA Western Conference playoffs. At least that is what they looked like as they rolled over against the Phoenix Suns in Game 5.

It was a strange episode. The Lakers came out as if it was just a practice session. By the end of the first half, they knew they had been in a game that was over, as they were down 66-36.

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Of course, they were down one very important man. Anthony Davis had suffered a groin strain in Game 4 and played only one half. Reportedly he wanted to play in Game 5 but the Lakers’ medical staff would not allow it.

Well, not enough people stepped up to the plate. That’s an understatement. Some might have laid the blame at the feet of LeBron, and perhaps he did not have a spectacular game. But he did score 24 points, with 6-for-10 from three-point range.

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The guy who really spit the bit was Dennis Schroder, the guard who felt as if he could be a guy forming a “Big Three” with Davis and James. But all he did on Tuesday was form a big “donut” as he went scoreless with 0-for-9 from the field.

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And LeBron himself walked off the court and to the locker room with his team down by 32 points. He was going back there early to “get treatment,” in the words of Frank Vogel, but to say the least, it was a display of poor optics.

Davis is iffy for Game 6. And from what we have heard, he is one of those “game-time decisions.” Interestingly, LeBron, who has had one of those groin injuries as well this season, is not exactly urging him to get back into the lineup. If you read between the lines, you’ll detect a “there’s always next year” attitude here.

We don’t credit James for having all the character in the world; that much has been evident. And if he tanks, that’s it for the Lakers and would constitute the first time he’s been ousted in the first round.

But even if he does play well, somebody else will likely have to pick up the slack for the Los Angeles offense.

And for that, we may turn to Schroder. In fact, there may be no other way to go. It is being reported that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope may have to also miss this game. And we know that Schroder has scored 17 points or more in 26 of the 61 games he played during the season, and he’s been at 20 or more in two of the five playoff games thus far.

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Let’s talk about his counterpart, Chris Paul. We can see that during regular season play, Paul tallied 17 points or more in 31 out of 70 games. But in the playoffs, he’s been in double figures only once in five contests. In the other four games he’s had a total of eleven field goals. He’s concentrated more on being the floor leader, compiling a nifty 4.25-to-1 ratio of assists to turnovers.

And really, this is the difference we’re talking about. While Paul doesn’t have to score to be an integral part of running the Phoenix offense, scoring points may be precisely the role Schroder has to fill.

With all that being said, my best NBA player prop pick in the Suns-Lakers game is on Schroder to outscore Paul at -127 odds.