As the Los Angeles Lakers sit at home, or at a beautiful beach resort somewhere in Mexico, and watch the NBA Playoffs on TV like us common folk, there are some things that the organization could learn from each of the remaining playoff teams.
Let us take a look at what the Lakers should be learning from both the Western and Eastern Conference Finals teams:
What the Los Angels Lakers can learn from the Los Angeles Clippers:
When players miss regular-season games for load management or injuries, it shows in the playoffs. The reduction in full team repetitions, and hence, the reduction of chemistry and experience together down the stretch, makes it hard to win playoff games, especially as teams move into the deeper rounds.
With Kawhi Leonard only appearing in 72% of regular-season games, and Paul George in 75%, “turning it on” in the postseason has proved much harder than expected for the Los Angeles Clippers. One could point to their two best players missing significant time over the course of the regular season as a reason for struggle early on in these series.
Even though Kawhi Leonard was ridiculously impressive in the first two rounds in mounting series comebacks before his injury, the Clippers still found themselves fighting from 0-2 holes in all three of their playoff series. They are the only team in NBA history to win two series in one postseason when starting down 0-2, so nevertheless, credit must be given to their resiliency as a team.
Coming off of an electric game 5 win pioneered by one of Paul George’s greatest playoff games ever, the Clippers are showing life once again after what looked like would be a quick series loss. Playoff P dropped a playoff career-high 41 points in a game that will change the connotation of his nickname.
In addition, the superb postseason performance for Reggie Jackson has given the Clippers the ability to make the series interesting again.
If LeBron James got hurt, it is hard for me to believe that the rest of the Lakers would be able to snag two games from the Phoenix Suns. This is a testament to the importance of having a unified team and stellar point guard play like the Clippers are boasting right now.
Even if the Suns win Game 6, the Los Angeles Clippers, and Paul George specifically, put up one heck of a fight.
Whether Kawhi Leonard or Anthony Davis, the story of this postseason, and truly the story of the season as a whole, has been injuries to top players hurting contenders’ abilities to be what they are, contenders.
With that said, the Lakers, after looking in the mirror as well as at their city’s secondary team, need to stress the importance of getting those repetitions in with the full team altogether, all season.
Injuries were a problem for most teams this year, and LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers proved to be no exception. The lack of time spent together on the court as a cohesive unit cannot be fully blamed on the players, but much more so on the NBA’s all-time shortest offseason of 72 days.
Now, it is on the players to use this offseason to individually work on their recovery, health, and endurance.
In addition, player-organized training sessions or trips would help the Lakers get together as a team, gain some more chemistry, and strengthen the brotherhood that is needed to win an NBA Finals next year.
Paul George and The Los Angeles Clippers find themselves fighting back from the infamous 3-1 lead held by the Phoenix Suns, and they are one game away from evening the series against a team that many said were Finals favorites going into the Conference Finals.
Tyronn Lue’s Clippers have now won two out of three since Chris Paul has returned.