3. The Western Conference is not nearly as strong as the Eastern Conference
For years LeBron James dominated the Eastern Conference which was notably weaker than the Western Conference. For the last two seasons, and this season in particular, the Eastern Conference has taken over as the gauntlet conference while the West does not appear to be as deep.
Over in the East, you have teams with superstars such as Philadelphia and Brooklyn, who might not be playing well right now, but will be one of the toughest outs in the league. You have the defending champs with the best player in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo. You have deep teams like the Heat, Bulls and Cavaliers who are going to be really hard to beat in a seven-game series.
The worst team in the Eastern Conference playoff picture is probably the Boston Celtics, who just recently rattled off nine wins in a row.
The West is really dominated by two teams and those two teams can be beaten. The Phoenix Suns have been the best team in the league but at their best, the Lakers match up well against them. Plus, Chris Paul has suffered yet another injury and his ability to hold up in the playoffs must be put into question.
The Golden State Warriors have been fantastic as well but like the Suns, the Lakers match up well with Golden State and they are not the unbeatable team from years past. You have teams like Memphis and Utah, who have been really fun to watch in the regular season, but Memphis has very little playoff experience and does not have the star power outside of Ja Morant and Utah always is the team that plays well in the regular season and does not show up in the playoffs.
It is definitely doable for the Lakers if Westbrook can play better down the stretch and we get the LeBron and AD that showed up in the 2020 bubble.