5 reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers really need a high playoff seed
By Robert Marvi
The 2021 NBA Playoffs may be about three months away, but it’s never too early to think about them. Especially when you’re the Los Angeles Lakers.
The purple and gold are the defending NBA world champions, and that obviously means that they’re gunning for a second straight title this season.
After pacing themselves enough to have the league’s best record for the few first weeks of this campaign, the Lakers have slipped a bit in February.
Yes, Anthony Davis has been out with a strained calf and Achilles tendonitis and starting guard Dennis Schroder missed four games after being placed on the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
But the main reasons for the Lakers playing mediocre ball lately have been poor 3-point shooting, a spotty transition game, a somewhat porous defense and quite possibly the fatigue that’s expected when you’re the defending champs and you had the shortest offseason in history.
As of this writing, the team is in second place in the Western Conference, just a hair ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers and 3.5 games behind the red-hot Utah Jazz.
I don’t know about you, but I personally have read many fans say on message boards and social media that Davis should be held out until the playoffs or shortly before they start no matter how healthy he is. The reasoning behind that is that these fans think it doesn’t matter what seed the Lakers get come playoff time.
Well, it does matter what seed they get, and there are many reasons why.