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The Lakers’ dilemma
The Los Angeles Lakers are threatened with an early end to the NBA postseason. Before the play-in game at the New Orleans Pelicans, the team around superstar LeBron James is in a dilemma.
Win the play-in game at the New Orleans Pelicans to secure a place in the playoffs? Or lose on purpose so that you can avoid the NBA champion Denver Nuggets in round one, but also accept the risk of missing the playoffs completely?
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This is exactly the question that fans of the NBA record champion Los Angeles Lakers are currently asking, who finished the regular season in eighth place in the West and still need a win from two games to finally take part in the playoffs.
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Denver as Fear of the Lakers
If the Lakers around superstar LeBron James were to take advantage of their first chance with a win in New Orleans, the Lakers would face the Nuggets around superstar Nikola Jokic in round one – an absolute fearsome opponent of the glamorous franchise from California.
The Lakers were unable to win any of the last eight duels against Denver and even went down 0-4 in the Western Conference Finals last season. Reason enough that in the recent past, chants of “Who’s your daddy?” (German: Who is your father?, editor’s note) echoed through the arena in Denver when the Lakers were once again guests in October 2023 were.
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Both in the playoffs and in the current season, the Lakers were unable to find an answer to the duo Jamal Murray and Jokic, who, together with their teammates Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., are going into the postseason as one of the title favorites.
The very special advantage of the Denver Nuggets
The fact that the Ball Arena in Denver is around 1,600 meters above sea level and the air is therefore thinner than in other NBA arenas should also not benefit the Lakers.
At 39 years and 31 years old, the two LA superstars James and Anthony Davis are no longer the youngest, who in the past have been able to put themselves at a disadvantage in the “Mile High City”.
“Yes, it’s real,” said James when asked about the altitude in Denver: “You get tired a lot quicker.”
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Is Los Angeles heading for disaster?
In order to avoid the Nuggets in round one, the Lakers would have to lose their first play-in game. But then LeBron and Co. expect the winner of the duel between the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors and another defeat would lead to immediate elimination.
However, the winner of this duel would have the supposed advantage over the top-seeded but inexperienced Oklahoma City Thunder team, which many teams consider to be a much more pleasant opponent.
Nevertheless, the Lakers will hardly want to take this risk and will try to make it into the first round of the playoffs in a duel with the New Orleans Pelicans.
And perhaps the Lakers’ chances would be even better if they face the Nuggets in the first round with a relatively rested James and Davis than at a later point in time, when the breaks between games are also shorter.
2024-04-16 15:57:53
#Lakers #dilemma #surrounding #LeBron #James
