Why the Los Angeles Lakers should be the NBA Title favorites
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers are on the quest for championship number 17.
The last time we saw the Los Angeles Lakers in action they lost a rather forgettable game against the Brooklyn Nets. However, directly before that, the Lakers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers to send a statement to the rest of the league.
The Lakers are legitimate. Anyone that said they were pretenders, or that they simply benefited from an easy schedule was proven wrong.
That is not to say that they are overwhelming title contenders, though. Heading into the league’s restart in the Orlando bubble at Disney World, there are two other teams that are viewed as legitimate contenders — the Clippers and Bucks.
Other teams, particularly in the Eastern Conference, could also make some noise. The Boston Celtics are a team primed to surprise the masses with their great depth and coaching.
Nobody can refute that the Lakers are one of the three best teams in the league but there still are those doubters that hold the Lakers in lower regard than the other contending teams. Recently, ESPN released their latest NBA power rankings, where the Lakers ranked third behind the Clippers and Bucks.
Sure, there are concerns in how the team is going to cope without Avery Bradley and potentially without Dwight Howard. And while those will be noticeable losses, especially in the case of Howard, it will not derail the team from winning a championship.
In fact, there are two specific factors that this Lakers team has that should give them the advantage over the Clippers and Bucks as the rightful favorites for the NBA Championship.