The Golden State Warriors are the hottest team in the NBA, as they are on a three-game winning streak, which I am pretty sure no other team has done throughout the season.
Today we are avoiding the traditional preview and, instead, we check the Warriors opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers.
You know everything about the Lakers: they have LeBron James, they are the title champions, Anthony Davis is injured and the Warriors beat them earlier this year. But, to talk even more about the team that every Dub fan loves to hate, I sat down with my colleague Harrison Faigen, known affectionately at SB Nation as the “Spike Lee of the Lakers”.
In addition to carrying three bottles of Lakers’ exceptionalism in all of the Lakers’ colorful outfits, Harrison is the guy in charge of our Lakers’ sister site, Silver Screen and Roll.
So I took your brain to see how the Lakers are doing before tonight’s showdown, which takes place at 17:00 PT on ESPN.
Q: The Lakers have been good, but not dominant. Are they saving equipment for the playoffs or is there a need for growth if they want to repeat it?
Harrison: I think it’s definitely fair to say that the Lakers are saving something for the playoffs, but perhaps not in the way that most would associate with defending the champions. This team was really beating all the players at the start of the season, despite seeming to only try for about 18 minutes or more at each game, and despite their recent struggles and a lot of panic about their “lack of a rim guard” yet – so far written – featured the best defensive efficiency in the league.
That said, I think it’s also fair to say that they have a little bit of room to grow as well, and that any problems they had were not solely attributable to effort or injury. They have been the worst 3-point pitching team in the NBA in the middle of the season to date, and their overall attack is in the bottom half of the league. Part of that will be better in the playoffs. They entered last year’s postseason by shooting the second worst percentage of the championship bottom in the last 15 games, so they ran a lot and when LeBron James and Anthony Davis raised the bar and started creating even more open kicks – and the coaching staff get a specific game plan for each opponent, rather than the simplest strategies they followed at this point – things will be better.
How much better it will depend on health, and whether they can find some ways to make that list fit a little better than they have done so far. The talent is there to repeat, but strangely for a team with LeBron, they have some offensive things to discover.
Q: What did the Lakers look like in the absence of Anthony Davis?
Harrison: Bad. Sorry, did you want more than that? (Editor’s note: honestly, no. We can leave it as ‘the Lakers are bad’.)
In all seriousness, Davis’ worth was on full display while he was away. Although all the talk about the Lakers was better in advanced numbers when he sat down than when he played last season, his absence showed that the eyesight test is more accurate to show what he gives to this team.
It is not just Davis’ defense, however. Without him and Dennis Schröder, the Lakers had a severe deficit in kick-making. During the bubble, Davis showed that he can be one of the most lethal isolation gunners in the league, tall enough to shoot smaller players like folding chairs, and fast enough to beat big giants with ease. They will need that guy back if they want to go anywhere this year (duh), which is why they will certainly continue to go slow while he recovers from injuries to his Achilles tendon and calf.
Q: How do you think a playoff match between these two teams would be?
Harrison: Assuming both sides are healthy? Lakers in five. Stephen Curry is dangerous enough to beat the Warriors in a game (Editor’s note: Harrison has a hard time counting, I’m pretty sure he meant ‘four’) and Draymond Green will discover some antics to get the Lakers out of their game at times, but this team is a juggernaut when they’re shooting at all cylinders, and I’m just not sure if the Warriors have enough guys to slow them down. I know that the Warriors have been better than expected defensively, but I just have faith that the Lakers will find personal holes to poke, and they have enough guys to tease Steph to at least make the game challenging for him, even if he have 30
Q: Should LeBron James be considered the favorite for MVP?
Harrison: My answer would have been “yes” if you had asked me that at the time of the first Lakers / Warriors match, but now I would definitely say no. This stretch without Davis and Schröder, fair or not, will be used as a plague on his resume at the end of the season, and as the Lakers have played poorly for the past 10 games or more overall, I imagine Joel Embiid (at the very least) the overtaken for now.
Does that mean I don’t think LeBron can win? Absolutely not. His production has been (mostly) great this season, and if he keeps going fast, he will have the cash score statistics needed to be in the conversation. The Lakers will probably have to increase the spread if he really wants to win, but I think if those things are in place, it looks like a lot of the media wants to preemptively declare him as MVP year because of the narrative about him not winning. last several, and especially after what the postseason was like last year for him and Giannis Antetokounmpo. LeBron knew who his real audience was when he talked about how angry he was because so few media outlets voted for him, I’ll tell you that.
If the Lakers do not come together, it will not be enough, but I think there is a desire by some voters to enjoy it on the way out, judging by many of the public outlets I have seen from the insiders who voted on these things.
Q: Should the NBA be doing more to create competitive balance or are you at peace with the idea that it will never be able to overcome a market giant like the Utah Jazz?
Harrison: It’s gonna be hard. The Lakers’ small family store was chosen and overlooked at every turn last year. Charles Barkley guaranteed that they would lose in the first round. Several experts thought that the Rockets would beat them in the second. The trend continued in the Western Conference finals, but the unlucky unlucky Lakers persisted again. After their recent defeat to the Jazz juggernaut, people are discarding them again at their own risk. However, #WeBelieve
(Editor’s note: this section was never clarified with me and I invite you to embarrass Harrison relentlessly in the comments section)
Q: Who have you been winning this match?
Many thanks to Harrison for telling us about the lovable underdogs of the NBA’s smallest market. If you want to stay up to date with the Lakers during the game, or just find a second platform to harass you for posting that graph, be sure to follow up on it (@hmfaigen).
And for those of you looking for my pre-game keys to victory, you can find them at our Twitter before reporting.