Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Connection
Oh, they could certainly lose to the Warriors in the following game as well but I just think it is worth the risk.
I suppose you could also make the argument that you're better off having a 40 year old LeBron face Jokic in the first round when LeBron's fresh than later on, but I'm of the opinion that the Lakers have no real chance at all if they face Jokic. Their best chance of advancing to another Finals is the Nuggets losing/getting injured before they even have to play them.
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Exactly. And that early February game is when I threw my hands up.
Lakers had a lead at about the 5 minute mark. They're at home and despite that, in the next 5 minutes they gave up 14 points. hell, the game was tied at about 2 minutes and they lost by EIGHT.
The Nuggets are a cat playing with a mouse here. LA isn't going to beat them. They simply don't play good enough defense and their outside shooting is not consistent enough. If they played better defense OR if they could run and hide then I might give them a shot.
But if they have a 12 point lead at the 8 minute mark, they're probably still going to lose that lead because they're going to get cold and they're damn sure not going to get the stops to keep that lead.
Now the argument would, I guess, be that 'Playoff Davis' is a different creature and can really transform them defensively. But not with Rui, LeBron, Russell and Reaves out there as the other starting 4. That's 4 abysmal defensive players.
James is just old. It happens. Reaves has heavy feet. But man, Rui and Russell should be able to play better defense than they do. If you could get those two to even average and let James play defense in spurts, you might be onto something.
But I don't see it happening. Davis is a generational defensive player but he's just not a guy that can carry 4 lousy defenders. Nobody is.