After a dismal start in a season of parity, the remade Los Angeles Lakers have overcome long odds and are a play-in game win away from becoming one of the most dangerous 7th seeds in the history of the NBA playoffs.
The Lakers’ playoff path to their league best 18th NBA championship will begin tomorrow night when, as the 7th seed, they host the 8th seed Minnesota Timberwoves in a Western Conferenece 7/8 Play-In game.
While the Lakers hoped to win the 6th seed and avoid the risk of running into a hot-shooting team and losing in the Play-In, they’re still supremely confident they can beat the Wolves on Tuesday to make the NBA playoffs.
Despite a terrible start and a tumultuous season, the Lakers finally have a healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis and believe their new look lineup and rotation is capable of winning their 18th NBA championship this year.
Parity has opened the doors wide-open for a half dozen NBA teams who think they can win it all this year. The Lakers consider themselves to be one of those teams despite having to participate in the Play-In Tournament.
So let’s take a deeper dive into how parity has leveled the playing field in the West, how the Lakers full roster is finally healthy and available, and how the team’s 7th seed is giving them a favorable championship path.
1. Parity Has Leveled Playing Field
The only reason the Los Angeles Lakers were able to keep their playoff hopes alive until the trade deadline and despite a poor start to the season was the near complete parity that leveled the playing field in the West.
Besides keeping the Lakers playoff window open, parity has also made it abundantly clear that there is no obvious favorite to win the championship this season. Instead, a half dozen NBA teams now claim to be contenders.
In the West, the favorites are probably the Phoenix Suns followed by the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers. In the East, the favorites are likely the Milwaukee Bucks followed by the Boston Celtics and Philadephia 76ers.
The lack of a truly dominant team, the large number of superstars recovering from major injuries, and the crazy seeding caused by the parity has made it difficut to predict what’s going to happen in these playoffs.
Frankly, every contending team has weaknesses and vulnerabilities that can be taken advantage of and has at times during the past season had periods of great struggle. This is as wide-open as the NBA has ever been.
Finally at full strength after a plague of injuries and a late midseason makeover, the Lakers are now ready to use their new starting lineup and deep and diverse roster to take full advantage of the parity in the West.
2. New Look Roster Is Finally Healthy
The primary reason the Lakers believe they can win their 18th NBA championship this year is their full roster after their trade deadline makeover is healthy and available for the first time this season.
Because of injuries to both superstars and key rotation players and late moves at the trade deadline, the Lakers have only been able to play the above starting lineup in five games this season, winning four of them.
Since the trade deadline, the Lakers have posted an 18–8 record, second best in the league. Their 115.6 offensive rating since the trade deadline ranks 14th, 110.8 defensive rating ranks 2nd, and +4.8 net rating ranks 6th.
With LeBron James and Anthony Davis finally healthy and the trade deadline moves creating a deeper, more diverse roster, the Lakers should be one of the most dangerous 7th seeds in the history of the NBA playoffs.
In retrospect, Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office deserve kuddos for making the right moves at the deadline and Darvin Ham and his coaching staff deserve praise for getting the new roster playing at an elite level.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ new starting lineup has been a great success. Russell, Reaves, Vanderbilt, James, and Davis have appeared in 64 minutes in 7 games and have posted a 123.5 OffRtg, 103.0 DefRtg, and +20.6 NetRtg.
3. Championship Path Is Favorable
Should the Lakers win the 7/8 Play-In Tournament game next Tuesday against the Pelicans or Timberwolves, their path to the NBA Finals per the sports books would likely include the Grizzlies, Warriors, and Suns.
Contrast that with the path the Lakers would have faced had they beaten the Clippers and ended up as 5th seed. Then they would have had to face the Suns, Nuggets, and Grizzlies, which is a far more difficult gauntlet.
The Lakers could easily find themselves eliminated by the Suns in the first round had they been the 5th seed. Now, as the 7th seed, they will face the 2nd seed Memphis Grizzlies, whom they beat two out of three this year.
Should the Lakers prevail over the Grizzlies in the first round, their likely second round opponent would be the Warriors, another team against which they match up well, having beaten them three out of four times this year.
A win over the Warriors would most likely catapult the Los Angeles Lakers into a Western Conference Finals with the Phoenix Suns, whom like the Lakers could suddenly find themselves fully healthy for the playoffs.
No fairy tale story is complete without a great ending, which for the Los Angeles Lakers would be to defeat the Boston Celtics in the 2022–23 NBA Finals to win what would be their league leading 18th NBA championship.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1645443451729637376
Other than glossing over the actual playin game a pretty solid read. I also wouldn’t go so far as to say we’re fully healthy or anything like that, not with D-Lo taking it day-to-day with a myriad of nagging injuries, AD playing on what is essentially a broken foot, Schroder dealing with some right Achilles soreness and LeBron playing on a partially torn/ruptured tendon.
But, yeah, other than that fully-ish healthy.
Of the potential spots we could have landed I like 7 as much as anything. We never were in reach of home court advantage in a series, would have had the same path as we do now with just a different first round matchup had we gotten to 6 (and more importantly extra rest) and if we take care of business against Minnesota I don’t think we play until Sunday which would be most excellent.
Need to have a healthy Schroder to run the second unit or to step in if D-Lo’s back/hip/foot/what have you doesn’t allow him to go in a game(s). Not really counting on the recent signings for much beyond waving towels and high fives. Feels like AD and LBJ are playing on a wing and a prayer, essentially, but there doesn’t seem to be any better options.
Considering we got to start our desired starting lineup for just the 6th time this season, this is the closest we’ve come to having everybody available, even Bamba.
If Dennis can go, that’s the best we’ve been able to field so far this season. Not that hard to accept that as a potential difference maker. Come on, Jamie. 6th time out of 82 games.
Dennis sounds like he can go so that’s great news. Still wouldn’t go so far as to say “fully healthy” but could be persuaded to dive into the “everyone is available” pool.
Yeah, fully-ish. Win tomorrow night would give us a nice rest!