Last night the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, 120 - 102. The Lake showed rolled out their 30th different lineup (most in the league), in the victory.
This was the first time LA's new roster was on display, since the trade deadline. The starting lineup featured D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. “I think our skill sets all kind of fit each other,” LeBron James said following the win.
Despite being the 13th seed, they are somehow, someway only 3.5 games out of the 6th seed, which would keep them out of the play-in tournament. Side note, I like the play-in tournament. It's a good attempt to make the long season interesting.
With that said, my top tier in the west are Denver, Phoenix and Golden State. The Nuggets have the number one seed in the conference with a bunch of really good players that fit around Nikola Jokić. Phoenix added Kevin Durant and that addition speaks for itself. Many won’t have the Warriors here, but I refuse to feel stupid for doubting Steph, Klay, Draymond and Coach Kerr come playoff time and they are a game away from going back to the finals. Respect the champ.
Memphis would be concrete in that second tier. Very close but I don’t think they have enough offensive firepower and experience to get to the finals.
I said that to say, the Lakers will give everyone else trouble! I might even take them to beat the others. For me it all comes down to one person. Anthony Davis. What is AD’s health and his mindset. Does he have any injuries and does he want to dominate like other bigs like Giannis, Embiid and Jokić?
The Lakers team that won it all in 2020 had a dominant Davis and was really good on defense as a unit. Can they duplicate that?
Wait one more question, if we give Lebron blame for the bad roster, are we giving him credit for the good roster? If we blame Rob Pelinka for the poor roster, are we giving him credit for the good roster?
Cheers to a long weekend…Alexa play *Thought it was a drought* Future.
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