LeBron James is back! We Los Angeles Lakers fans are all happy and feeling good about his return and even though they lost to the Sacramento Kings on Friday evening and the Toronto Raptors soon after that, we were overjoyed to see how good James looked after his layoff from his ankle injury.
That game on Sunday marked their third loss in a row, as the Lakers have been going through a rough patch of late. That being said, there is much work that the Lakers must do with these last nine games as the playoffs are near. These last few games are far more important for them than for other teams.
The Lakers are locked in a battle with the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers to escape the randomness of the play-in game. There is still time for them to change things around though as they have nine games to do it.
The Clippers stand above both the Lakers and Dallas as they have a comfortable lead on both teams. can the Lakers catch them? A lot can happen in eight games, can’t it?
LeBron James on the play-in tournament: "Whoever came up with that s--- needs to be fired"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 3, 2021
Can the Los Angeles Lakers rebound?
In my opinion, the Lakers need these last nine games to show the rest of the league just how serious they are about repeating. I feel they have to win out or at least win seven or eight of these.
During this stretch, they shall face opponents such as the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, and of course, the Los Angeles Clippers. This sure will be a very interesting nine games for them. The Lakers shall host five of these games at home (even though the Clippers game is technically another home game).
What we need to see in these final nine games is that LeBron and Anthony Davis have recovered fine and have shaken off the rust as it appears they have thus far.
Markieff Morris, who has only averaged a little over four points per game in the last seven games has to come alive like we all know he is capable of as he is a very important part of the Laker puzzle. We need him to hit his shots and go into that intense state for which he is known for.
The Lakers desperately need Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to hit those key shots and not force anything. Kyle Kuzma, who perhaps is one of the most important players during this stretch, has to continue on the path he has been on this season.
There have been games when he has stepped up huge and had double doubles. That is the Kuzma we need. He has to be like a beast unleashed from a cage.
I really do hope they play no holds barred during this time so they can move up a bit in the playoff tree but more importantly fine tune themselves and put the rest of the NBA on notice. I’m putting my money on the fact that LeBron will have them on that killer path.