The Los Angeles Lakers narrowly escaped the Staples Center with a victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night in large part because of LeBron James’ clutch three-point shot over the guy who does them best, Stephen Curry.
The Warriors are heading into a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies to determine who the eighth seed in the West will be while the Lakers are penciled in as the seventh seed and will take on the Phoenix Suns.
Phoenix has to be a bit irate with the result of the play-in game as they are making their first playoff appearance in a decade and have to play the defending champions who are only this low-seeded because of injuries.
What makes it worse is that the Phoenix Suns match up terribly against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers not only have the two best players in this series but they also have a significant matchup advantage as well. That bodes great for the Los Angeles Lakers.
There might be some doubt around the Lakers following the play-in game against the Warriors, especially with how bad they looked in the first half. However, at the end of the day, this matchup disparity will ultimately lead to a first-round series win for LA.
Let’s break down why this is such a terrible matchup for Phoenix.
1. The Los Angeles Lakers have the weapons to stop Chris Paul and Devin Booker
The Los Angeles Lakers did an excellent job in containing Stephen Curry in the play-in game. Box score watchers are going to think this is a ludicrous statement as Curry scored 37 points but anyone that watched this game knows that with how much Curry was being used, he could have dropped 50 plus.
This is just indicative of how good Curry has been this season. When it mattered most, though, the Lakers were able to get stops and forced Golden State to turn the ball over a staggering 20 times, mostly due to the pressure that they would apply.
Curry and Draymond Green turned the ball over a combined 12 times and the game could not have ended in a better way with the inbound pass being stolen for yet another turnover.
While Paul and Booker are both great, they are not the deep threat that you have to double and sometimes triple-team that Stephen Curry is. While still a challenge, they are easier to manage at an individual level and the Lakers’ perimeter defenders can definitely do good work.
Alex Caruso is going to be key in stopping Devin Booker off-ball and is going to continue his smothering brand of basketball to keep him at bay. Then you have Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to check up on Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder should be able to hold his own as well.
Curry made Schroder look bad a few times on defense and that is when he was getting most of his good looks but Paul is not as big of a threat at this point in his career. Schroder can handle it.
The Los Angeles Lakers are built to stop the Phoenix Suns’ biggest strength and two best players.
2. The Phoenix Suns will not be able to stop the Los Angeles Lakers frontcourt
There are some changes that Frank Vogel is likely going to have to make in the playoffs. For example, Andre Drummond was terrible against the Warriors and was just clogging the lane. Things opened up tremendously when they took him out of the game and that should be a lesson.
However, this matchup is better for Drummond and the Lakers as Phoenix has a legitimate center in DeAndre Ayton. Drummond can play when Ayton is on the floor and is a good neutralizing presence on the glass to keep Ayton from doing his best work.
The Suns do not have anyone to stop LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Davis played horribly in the first half of the play-in game in large part due to Draymond Green’s elite defense. The Suns do not have anyone with Green’s defensive ability or IQ, sorry, Jae Crowder.
Davis should have no problem in getting the looks that he wants to get and LeBron especially should be able to do work. It will be interesting to see how they limit his minutes in this series but when he and Davis are both on the floor the Suns are going to be in massive trouble.
The Warriors played a much closer game than I expected as I had the Lakers winning by 15+. Granted, they probably would have if they did not shoot under 30% in the first half.
The Los Angeles Lakers are bound for an ugly game or two in this series and I would not be surprised if it goes six games. At the end of the day, though, when they are firing on all cylinders the Suns have no chance to stop the Lakers.