Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Reasons why the Blazers can win a playoff series

The Portland Trail Blazers could shock the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been all over the NBA news cycle as of late. Now the hot takes have joined the weather in Orlando! Two NBA analysts have named the Portland Trail Blazers as a potential team to upset the Lakers in the first round if they meet. Lake Show Life shows the reasons why you can’t call them crazy.

Los Angeles Lakers fans, the NBA is officially back in business! This is the week when the teams start scrimmages on Wednesday, July 22nd (Meaning the Lake Show Life Lessons post-game reports are back!). The scrimmages start the fast track to the NBA season which officially resumes on July 30 with the Lakers playing the Los Angeles Clippers on TNT.

The Los Angeles Lakers are a lock for the first seed in the Western Conference barring some unforeseen major problems (Also read: Falling off a cliff!). Bottom line, with the Lakers coasting with a 5.5 game lead over the Clippers with eight games left, they would have to implode and the Clippers would still need help. For example.

• The Lakers would have to lose on restart night to their Staples Center rivals Clippers. 
• Finish the season 1-7 or tank the season or lose all of the remaining games.
• Then the Los Angeles Clippers would have to go 7-1 or run the table at 8-0.

With that highly unlikely scenario out of the way, the narrative has shifted to the first-round opponent for the Los Angeles Lakers. It seems that the Lakers have quite a list of potential first-round opponents. Out of the 22 teams in the Orlando bubble, 13 teams are from the Western Conference. Here’s how this works out.

• The NBA invited all the teams that were within six games of the eighth seed to Orlando.
• With the Memphis Grizzlies hanging on to the final spot, five teams have a mathematical chance to make the playoffs.
• If the ninth seed finishes within four games of the eighth seed then they still have a chance. How you ask?
• There’s a playoff where the ninth seed would have to beat the eighth seed in back-to-back games to advance as the new eighth seed.

The story begins with one of those five teams chasing Memphis for a potential first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Portland Trail Blazers.

The interesting story that got lost in all of the planning for the reset was the Portland Trail Blazers was the only team to vote against the league resuming in Orlando. A potential theory for the playoff format is Damian Lillard’s public comments about not wanting to play without a chance for the postseason. Then Charles Barkley made things interesting.

Granted Charles Barkley is a favorite of Lake Show Life (Especially this writer!) because he always finds ways to find content to cover in a complete sports purgatory! Charles Barkley covers the entire spectrum from LeBron James’ point guard duties to open invitations!

• Lakers Rumors: How close Charles Barkley came to being a Laker! 
• Lakers Rumors: The time Kobe Bryant cussed out Charles Barkley!
• Los Angeles Lakers: Is Charles Barkley right about LeBron James?
• Los Angeles Lakers: Charles Barkley invites LeBron James to the TNT Studios for one night!
• Los Angeles Lakers: Barkley is right, Blazers can beat LA!

In any other instance, the Lake Show life staff would consider this one of Charles Barkley’s “GUUUURRAAAAANNNNTEEESSSS!” Considering that he believed that Portland would make the NBA Finals last year, most will roll their eyes at this prediction.

But he’s not the only NBA analyst that believes in the flavor of the Portland Trail Blazers Kool-Aid. A couple of weeks prior, Jay Williams was on ESPN talking about the same possibilities.

Granted this entire discussion could be a moot point considering where the Portland Trail Blazers are sitting in the standings.

Memphis Grizzlies:        32-33
Portland Trail Blazers:  29-37
New Orleans Pelicans: 28-36
Sacramento Kings:        28-36
San Antonio Spurs:       27-36 
Phoenix Suns:                26-39

Let’s take the Spurs and the Suns out of the equation. San Antonio will be without LaMarcus Aldridge for the rest of the season (Shoulder surgery) and Phoenix is just not good enough.

Looking at the board above, the Blazers were 29-37 when the season stopped, leaving them 3.5 games back of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference. However, they are a game in the loss column behind the Pelicans and Kings.

Conspiracy theorists believe the NBA wants the New Orleans Pelicans to have the chance to face the Grizzlies in a play-in game for the final seed instead of Portland for TV ratings. Most NBA fans and Lakers’ websites believe that all LeBron James and Anthony Davis have to show up and breathe and it will be a sweep. No.

Lake Show Life sees a possible upset if the Los Angeles Lakers play the Portland Trail Blazers in the postseason. Let’s look at the reasons why.

Damian Lillard is having a career year and he’s been known to send some teams home in upsets. Ask Dwight Howard!

The Los Angeles Lakers have taken two out of three games from the Portland Trail Blazers. The wins were against a seriously depleted Portland squad that opened the smallest of windows to get Carmelo Anthony back in the NBA.

The game that applies here is the one win Portland had in January. Yes, this was the first game back after the death of Lakers icon Kobe Bryant, but this is about Damian Lillard. Dame is known to get into zones. Blame it on the emotions, but the Lakers lost because Lillard went crazy in the 3rd quarter.

After Lillard received a technical foul, he surgically dismantled the Lakers. He had the Staples Center in a buzz with his shooting display finishing with one rebound shy of his second triple-double in a row.

The numbers added up to 48 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds. It’s the highest scoring total in his career against the Lakers.

Okay? So? Everyone can get hot right? Let’s discuss the games before this one!

• Against Golden State:
  Damian Lillard scored 61 points on a nationally televised game on TNT. He is on a very short list of players in NBA history that have multiple 60 point games in his career. Kobe Bryant is on that list along with Wilt Chamberlain. He also had 10 rebounds and seven assists. Plus, he hit a huge 3-pointer to send it into overtime.
• Against the Dallas Mavericks:
  Lillard dropped 47 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a loss. It was the only loss in the hot streak. At this point, he was basically carrying the franchise on his back. 
• Against the Indiana Pacers:
  This was the night Kobe Bryant passed. Lillard laid a 50 point whipping on the Pacers with 13 assists and six rebounds. He shot 66% from 3-point land and 60% overall from the field. 
• Against the Houston Rockets:
  Damian Lillard had never gotten a triple-double in his career coming into the game. Check that off the bucket list. He had a 36 point, 11 assist, 10 rebound game. 
• The 10 games before this game:
  Damian Lillard averaged 36 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds.

Damian Lillard, who is having a career season and believes his team can beat the Lakers if afforded the opportunity. With averages 28.9 points and 7.8 assists per game so far this season, can you blame him?. These are both career-highs, and he is one of the game’s most feared clutch performers. We all remember Dame sending the Thunder home and sent stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook packing.

Ask Dwight Howard about his last days in a Houston Rockets uniform. Lake Show Life assumes that he will stop smiling.

The point here is this. Damian Lillard can get hot. The Portland Trail Blazers’ loss to the Pelicans is history so let’s not entertain that narrative. Different team, different schemes, different circumstances.

We see what Lillard did in a ten-game stretch, a playoff series is only four.

C.J. McCollum has raised his status to near All-Star and the Los Angeles Lakers had better recognize!

One of the main reasons why Charles Barkley likes Portland as a possible sleeper title contender is the backcourt combinations of Damian Lillard and his partner C.J. McCollum. It’s something that he covered during an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up” earlier during the NBA stoppage.

"“The one team in the Western Conference, if they get Nurkic back and Zach Collins, nobody’s going to want to see the Portland Trail Blazers. They got, arguably — other than Klay and Steph — the best backcourt in the NBA.”"

Portland’s roster reportedly did get Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins back ready to suit up. If the two big men are ready to go, it opens up lanes for McCollum to operate.

While Damian Lillard gets all of the press (Deservedly!) C.J. is playoff-tested and can close out games as well.

Last year in Game 7 of the 2019 Western Conference semi-finals, CJ McCollum closed the Denver Nuggets season dropping 37 points and 9 rebounds to will the Blazers to victory in a game that Damian Lillard was awful.

Did we mention that it was on the road?

Did we mention that it was a franchise record? 

The most important aspect in the game of basketball is putting the ball in the basket, which Lillard and McCollum do at a high level. If there is any team that can take advantage of Avery Bradley’s absence is Portland.

The narrative for the Blazers will be that they haven’t exactly done much this year that is is virtually impossible to win the series. Only a few things will be left out by the media.

• The Blazers have gone into the last two playoff series on a roll ending the season.
• The fact that the Blazers are a topic with all of the injuries says a lot.
• This is a veteran team that has a core group that has been around each other for years.

Portland also has an asset that not many NBA teams have to match the Los Angeles Lakers.

Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic add skill and scoring punch to the Portland front line!

Let’s talk about what Charles Barkley statements about the main reason that he’s excited about Portland on “Get Up”. 

"“The one team in the Western Conference, if they get Nurkic back and Zach Collins, nobody’s going to want to see the Portland Trail Blazers. Whiteside’s been playing pretty good all year. But if they get Nurkic and Zach Collins back, nobody’s going to want to see the Portland Trail Blazers.”"

Jusuf Nurkic was coming into his own last year putting up 15.6 points and 10.4 rebounds a game last season before he suffered one of the worst leg injuries in recent memory. He has a close bond with Damian Lillard and will be someone to be reckoned with down low.

Zach Collins was believed to make his leap in his third year, scoring 9.0 points and 4 rebounds a game before he had a shoulder injury that was supposed to sideline him for the season. At 6’11 and being athletic, the Blazers had high hopes for him. With these two players, they can match up with the Lakers’ front line.

Will they stop Anthony Davis? No. But they don’t need to match him stats-wise with a team geared for the backcourt to carry the scoring load. But they are skilled enough to get the Lakers big men in foul trouble. Plus these two can hit their free throws.

The x-factor on the Portland Trail Blazers’ front line is Hassan Whiteside. Like Barkley said he has played okay this season. Here’s the caveat. It’s a contract year for Whiteside. When engaged and motivated, Hassan Whiteside can be a rim-protecting machine. Money is on the line here. Remember how well he played before his big contract in Miami?

Think Lake Show Life is kidding? Hassan Whiteside leads the NBA in blocks by almost 40 blocks over second-place Brook Lopez. Anthony Davis is third.

With Portland being a bigger team with their two centers back, it puts LeBron’s old friend to his natural position.

If the Los Angeles Lakers fall asleep on Carmelo Anthony, it could be upset city! 

Carmelo Anthony has a lot of aliases that he goes by. He has gone from “Olympic Melo” to “Hoodie Melo” to now “Skinny Melo”? One of the storylines floating around in Orlando is the weight loss of Anthony for a possible position change.

Carmelo talked to ESPN’s Royce Young about the physical changes.

"“For me, I had that in the back of my mind, once Coach told me the position that I’d be switching back to the 3,” Anthony said. “I kind of challenged myself to get down to that weight where I feel comfortable with playing the 3, comfortable running around and utilizing things I can do within our system from playing the 3. “That was a big motivation for me to come back at that exact weight, or around that weight, 230, 235. I haven’t seen 230, 235 since early, early in my career,” he said. “So now it puts me back in a mindset of that from a confidence standpoint knowing that I was able to get back to that. On the court I feel good, I feel healthy. I have a lot of clarity, too. All of that was part of the plan.”"

With Portland getting their big men back, it seems that Head Coach Terry Stotts seems to have some plans for Carmelo Anthony. After doing his best to hold the fort at the power forward spot in the small-ball lineup, Melo gets a chance to go back to his preferred position at small forward.

If Carmelo Anthony had a career renaissance in a Blazers upset, it would be the story of the playoffs. This was a guy that was basically on ESPN’s First Take begging for a job. If the Portland Trail Blazers roster hadn’t been decimated with injuries, he might have retired. Watching Portland tread water with no offensive big man as a scoring option, if Melo can channel his “Olympic Melo” with his ability to score, he could help get Portland in the playoffs. If Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum get hot, yes the Lakers could be had.

Finally, if you have paid any attention to Carmelo’s career, he tends to be motivated to play both sides of the floor is when LeBron James is playing. Will he get the 28 point triple-doubles LeBron will get? Nope. But the Blazers don’t need that. They need him to knock down shots to alleviate the double teams that Lillard and McCollum will command.

Remember all a team needs for an upset is to get hot for a week and a half. We’ve seen Melo get hot for years.

Finally, this reason right here pointed out is why Lakers fans need to follow Lake Show Life over the playoffs. We cover everything.

The Los Angeles Lakers are done if LeBron James or Anthony Davis contract COVID-19

NBA fans and pundits have kind of forgotten the biggest challenge not just of the Los Angeles Lakers, but the 22 teams that are participating in the bubble in Orlando. A virus that has not been contained in this country (No check that, some states like Florida have record cases on a daily basis!) with no real understanding of how the virus is spread.

Numerous NBA players have contracted the virus and have been quarantined. This is before the season restarts. Let’s assume that the Lakers halfway pay attention and keep the number one seed and actually play the Portland Trail Blazers.

If LeBron James and/or Anthony Davis catch COVID-19, they are quarantined for 14 days. The series will not last two weeks even if the series went seven games.

Why does this come up? Dwight Howard was “snitched” on for not wearing a mask that as of this writing has irritated him.

Dwight Howard could be right. Maybe it’s not a big deal. If he was alone, okay. No problem. Now let’s flip the script. Rudy Gobert didn’t think it was a big deal when he was messing with microphones. When COVID-19 shut down the NBA, who did they put the blame on?

Let AD or Bron catch COVID-19. Does he really want to deal with fans and the media bringing this up if one or both have to be quarantined for 14 days? We all thought Rudy Gobert got the treatment in the media for being “Patient Zero” and the reason the NBA stopped. Think of how bad it would be for Howard to be blamed for the Lakers losing in the playoffs for not wearing a mask!

Dwight, the staff loves you at Lake Show Life, wear the mask.

Now let’s deal with reality here, Lake Show Life style.

Can the Blazers win four out of seven games against the Lakers? Yes. Most everyone else will say Portland might take one, or two if they catch the Lakers on a particular cold streak. In a normal playoff season? Yes. Anything normal about this situation?

But for now, it’s really hard to take predictions like this seriously until the season starts. Any team could suffer from injury, family situations or something similarly unpredictable as this virus. But believing that as long as the Lakers roll out LeBron James and Anthony Davis, that should be enough to beat the Blazers fairly easily is lazy analysis.

But for now, Charles Barkley has given the Los Angeles Lakers fans a reason to stay up late and watch the playoffs. This phrase will be the prediction of the playoffs if it comes to pass.