Neither team deserves to be here so it’ll be interesting to see which inept coach and bad supporting cast shows up first
Steve Kerr is a Coach of the Year and Klay, Wiggins, Draymond, Poole, Looney, Donte, Payton, Kuminga is not a bad supporting cast. Wild framing.
The series is dependent on Anthony Davis. If he plays how he played last series, Lakers win.
Lebron will be as good as a 38 year old Lebron can be, but he can’t match Steph, so AD will have to be the best player in the series. The rest of the Lakers stink and can’t be trusted, Grizzlies series be damned. I fully expect D’Tective Russell to do his best to lose a game or two on his own.
The difference between this series and last series is that Warriors can run up the scoreboard no matter how well AD is playing defense inside. Memphis couldn't hit threes, Golden State can.
I think Golden State will be fine offensively, so the bigger questions are with the Lakers' offense.
* Is Bron anywhere near 100% or is his foot still limiting him? Will he be able to give an efficient 24-8-8, or will his shooting struggles continue?
* Can AD enforce his will offensively on a consistent basis, or will he be the guy who scored just 13, 12, and 16 in three games last series?
* Can D-Lo, Reaves, and Rui hit from outside reliably? Will Schroder, Beasley, Brown, and Vandy be able to hit enough open shots to even be playable?
If Bron and AD are at even 90% and the role players make open shots, Lakers will win. But if either Bron or AD are more seriously limited, or if the role players can't make shots, then Golden State is coming away with this.
The Lakers were the very first basketball team I ever rooted for, long before anyone here knew who LeBron was, and I actually spent part of my adolescence in Los Angeles...
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