Los Angeles Lakers: Why the title odds have gone down in the bubble

3. The Los Angeles Lakers lost two of their biggest advantages

Back in March, there were two big advantages that were being touted for the Los Angeles Lakers. These advantages are not the only reason why the team had good title odds, but when you get that deep in the playoffs, there is elite talent all-around and you really start to split hairs.

Those advantages were home-court advantage and team chemistry. Both of those are now either gone completely or are not even close to what it was back in March.

The home-court advantage is an easy one to explain. The Lakers have to play a neutral site and while they don’t have to travel, they also don’t get the advantage of having seven home crowds in the Western Conference Finals.

As far as chemistry goes, there are two types. First is how the team gets along, especially off the court. This Lakers team has fantastic chemistry in that regard, although LeBron James’ comments about off-court issues are a bit concerning.

More importantly, as far as this is concerned, is on-court chemistry. The Lakers had a massive playing time advantage over the Clippers and that was going to show in the playoffs. When the going got tough, the team with more familiarity was going to persevere.

That is reduced for two reasons: first is the fact that the team had such a long lay-off and the other is the changes in the roster. The team is going to be without Avery Bradley and without Rajon Rondo for most of the playoffs.

They have to implement new faces into the rotation in Dion Waiters, Markieff Morris (who had some playing time before the hiatus) and J.R. Smith. It has a ripple effect.