3 reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers will easily get past the Clippers

The Los Angeles Lakers are the only elite tier team that has played near-flawless playoff basketball

There were three “elite” contenders heading into the NBA Playoffs — the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. The Lakers are the only team among those three that have not shown any legitimate concerns in the playoffs and have played near flawless basketball.

The Bucks got shocked by the Miami Heat in five games in the second round. And while Miami has played practically flawless, I would not put them in this talent group (although I would not sleep on them, either).

The Celtics are in the same boat. They have played really good basketball thus far, but again, not on the same tier as the Lakers and Clippers.

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The Clippers, meanwhile, were kind of saved by the bell in the first round. They dropped two games to the Dallas Mavericks and if it was not for a bogus Kristaps Porzingis ejection and injury and a Luka Doncic injury then that series could have been way different. The Clippers needed six games despite all of that.

Then they face off against a Denver team that they are far superior to and have shown that they are when all cylinders are firing. They blew a massive lead in Game 5 to extend the series to six, showing more playoff concerns.

The Lakers dropped two Game 1s where they admittedly came out flat and didn’t ply great. But what did they do after that? They played fantastic basketball and quite frankly, dismantled both the Blazers and Rockets.

Of course, naysayers will discount the level of competition when three weeks ago the narrative was that they had an impossible playoff path. The truth is that they played two teams that arguably are better than both the teams that the Clippers played and beat them easily.

Why is that the case? Well, let’s get into the next reason.