Aloha,
Making the 7th seed was huge for this team. Besides the obvious, easier playoff path. Going down the stretch the Lakers looked tired. Yes they kept winning but they were squeaking out wins against 2nd units and generally bad teams. Securing the 7th seed gave them time to rest. As important as the rest was they also gave them practice time. Something this new squad desperately needed. Now we don’t play until Wednesday. More rest. More practice. Considering this team is still learning each other, I think the playoff schedule benefits the Lakers more then any other team in the playoffs.
“Going down the stretch the Lakers looked tired. Yes, they kept winning but they were squeaking out wins against 2nd units and generally bad teams.”
That is because they played 8 games in 13 days on the road. At first, I could not understand why they look so flat in games toward the end of the season. But that was a lot of traveling and playing at a high level. The good thing is they won games except for the second night of the final back-to-back against the Clippers.