1. The Los Angeles Lakers can figure Giannis Antetokounmpo out in a seven-game series
Now, this is not to say that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to figure Giannis out and he is going to have a terrible series. Giannis is still the best player in the league and he is going to play great and be a headache to defend.
However, when you’re playing the Bucks up to seven times in a row, you can start to figure out Giannis a bit better and make adjustments than when you are only seeing him twice a season.
The team already had some success in limiting him in the regular-season matchup and the Lakers should be watching film from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Raptors and how they limited Giannis.
Jack Maloney of CBS Sports did a great job in breaking down how the Raptors slowed Giannis down after going down 2-0 in the series, with a large part of it being Kawhi Leonard’s efforts.
The Lakers have a more than capable defender to take on that Kawhi defense role in Anthony Davis, who can guard Giannis one-on-one and bother him at the rim.
Another thing that the Raptors did really well was clogging the lane, something the Lakers absolutely can do. The Lakers are one of the bigger teams in the league and with Davis, LeBron’s help defense and two veteran centers in JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, the Lakers can load bodies near the rim when Giannis drives and disrupt his play.
He is still going to be great, don’t get me wrong, but limiting him and making the rest of the team beat the Lakers is much easier when you are playing him multiple games in a row.
Just look at the last four games against the Raptors. Giannis had two games where he shot less than 40 percent from the floor and went from averaging 27.4 points in the playoffs to averaging just 20.5 in the final four games. That makes a huge difference.