NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Brooklyn Nets
The two best basketball players on planet Earth reside in Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Durant and LeBron James have long been the NBA’s top dogs, but we haven’t gotten the privilege to see them play against one another in quite a while.
The last time these two matched up was December 25th, 2018 and it was in the game that James suffered a strained groin that would cost him 17 straight games and essentially tank the Lakers playoff hopes.
Keep in mind, the Lakers roster still consisted of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Ivica Zubac, Tyson Chandler and Lance Stephenson at that time.
To all of my fellow fans, I’m sorry for bringing up those dark times.
Also, in that game, James only played 21 minutes which means the last time these two REALLY matched up was on June 8, 2018 in Game 4 of the 2018 NBA Finals.
This means that by the next time James and Durant potentially see each other, more than three years will have passed.
Safe to say that a lot has changed for both guys since then.
In Durant’s case, he packed it up and went on over to Brooklyn with James’ former partner in crime, Kyrie Irving, and also just so happened to scoop up James Harden as well.
For James, he and Davis managed to bring the most historic franchise in basketball their 17th championship and grabbed his fourth in the process.
I guess these guys only feel like it’s worth gracing us with this incredible battle when the lights are shining the brightest, but who are we to complain.
This year’s Brooklyn Nets might be James’ greatest challenge yet. They’ve only truly played seven games together and if it hadn’t been for Colin Sexton going nuclear, they’d be undefeated.
As for a series breakdown, this one is pretty simple. The Nets have the best offensive rating in the league at 117.2, which rises to 122.4 when their Big 3 is playing and the seventh-worst defensive rating in the league at113.3, which dips to 114.0 when Irving, Harden and Durant share the floor.
They could very well be one of the most offensively gifted teams of all time and score the ball at an insanely high rate, but on the other hand, they might not be able to guard a team full of 8th graders.
The Nets are a team that will live with the opposition scoring because they know that they can come right back down and get a bucket on the other end. What’s the point in playing defense when we have no doubt that we can just outscore you?
It will be the Lakers’ job to show them why that league-high Defensive Rating actually means something. The Nets aren’t at all equipped to guard either Davis or Drummond as they have no true big, but on the other end, they’re also being tasked with taking on Durant and Blake Griffin.
If the Nets choose to go small and run Durant at the five, then we’ll likely match and run Davis right alongside him. At that point, may the best man win.
At the end of the day, I believe that the Los Angeles Lakers’ depth and size will have them prevail in this one.
However, I have no doubt that this series will go down as an all-time classic. After all, it features five of perhaps the NBA’s top-7 players, how could it not?
Result: Los Angeles Lakers in 7
Just like that, the LakeShow would bring home their 18th championship and officially solidify themselves as the winningest franchise in NBA history.
They’ve got all the tools and talent they need to do what yet again seems impossible this year, now all they’ve got to do is put it all together.