Should Lakers fans worry about Anthony Davis’ playoff inexperience?
By Jason Reed
1. The Los Angeles Lakers are not at an experience disadvantage with Anthony Davis
Yes, experience is very valuable in the Orlando bubble because of how unique this situation is. On paper, that should make us worried about Anthony Davis’ inexperience. However, when you break down who the Lakers have to go through to win championship number 17, it becomes clear that it is not a disadvantage.
The first two rounds for the Lakers should be a breeze. A team like the Portland Trail Blazers could make things interesting in the first round and take the series to five, or even six games, but the Lakers will get through the first two rounds as long as they are healthy.
That is when it starts to really matter.
The Lakers and Clippers seem to be on a collision course for the Western Conference Finals and the Clippers are not the more experienced team. Sure, Kawhi Leonard has tons of playoff experience, but LeBron James is one of the few players in the league that has more.
The Lakers’ role players have way more playoff experience than the Clippers’ role players and while Paul George has more playoff games, I would not say that is a tangible advantage over Davis in terms of experience as he has not made it past the first round in his last four playoff trips.
Both are new teams that were mostly assembled prior to this season. Sure, the Clippers made the playoffs last season, but this year’s team is still vastly different from last year’s team and they did not make it out of the first round.
The same can be said for the NBA Finals. There are three possible teams that could make the Finals out of the East: The Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors. The Bucks and Celtics both have playoff experience, but not more than the Lakers have. The only team that would have this clear advantage is the Raptors and only because it is recent experience.
Simply put: there is no Golden State Warriors team that has been through the wringer over the past few seasons. This is going to be relatively new for a lot of players, not just Davis.