Why Lakers & Warriors can still make deep playoff run | Hoops Tonight

Why Lakers & Warriors can still make deep playoff run | Hoops Tonight

What’s up everybody thanks as always for supporting the show it would mean a lot to me if you would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel and then follow me on social media on Tik Tok Instagram and Twitter

So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right so without any further Ado we’re going to start with you Carson who is most likely to go on a deep playoff run this year LeBron James or Steph

Curry well I want to start by saying that I think it’s unlikely when you’re talking about deep like a final sort of run for either of these teams and probably Western Conference Finals too but I still clearly think that it’s LeBron and the reality is just that he

Would have to do less superhero stuff for the Lakers to make say a Western Conference Finals run than Steph would and the obvious reason there is that he has another Superstar caliber player on his team and Anthony Davis who could be their best player for a series there’s

Nobody on the Warriors who could possibly carry that sort of load he also has the backbone that is AD specifically defensively and the fact that the Lakers can reach a defensive ceiling where they’re dominant and that was the driving factor of their success in last year’s run so I think that LeBron can

Get to a special level but he’ll be able to pick his spots more even in a playoff run where it doesn’t have to be every single night I’m doing what Steph did in game seven versus the Kings because that’s kind of what it feels like this Warriors team would need to make some

Noise and I do think the elite size in the front Court makes the Lakers matchup much better against some of those other super big physical teams in the west the nuggets the Timberwolves the Warriors are just going to be outmatched physically in those matchups the lack of

A second Dynamic shot Creator it’s just too costly for them so I have felt all year that it’s La I still feel even as both these teams have struggled that it’s definitely La those are the two biggest points for me with the Lakers too uh he has Anthony Davis to rely on

And they’re just physical as hell and they’re athletic as hell they’re big as hell and the warriors uh sadly like as much as I like the conglomerate of assets that they have the bench pieces that have stepped up you know shout out bod shout out Kinga for going crazy

Shout out tjd like I like a lot of the Warriors pieces but they don’t have a dominant number two they are at physical disadvantages and Anthony Davis is the best player you know uh this season um out of the two guys like sethh just doesn’t have that luxury so I also think

It’s the Lakers and I think they’re more if we’re looking at this from a trade deadline perspective I know we bring this up every time we talk about La I think considering that they are the Los Angeles Lakers they don’t have a core like the Warriors do they are more

Likely to make a game-changing move at the deadline as well yeah I think if we go back a month it’s a Chasm between the two I think like there it was just so much more clear that the Lakers were more primed for that type of of playoff

Run but some things have changed for instance Andrew Wiggins is starting to play a little bit better Jonathan Kingo over the course of the last like three weeks is basically on he went from not having a single consecutive stretch of 20-point games in his career to what’s

He on like seven or eight of them in a row now so like you have the rise of Jonathan kaminga even on the other end of things for the Lakers like we went from you know like like Jared Vanderbilt is vitally important to this team and we got an announcement today that he’s

Going to be out for at least a few more weeks and that the that season ending surgery is on the table for Jared Vanderbilt which wouldn’t be a death sentence for the Lakers but would significantly cut into their margin for error so it is closer but that said it’s

Still the Lakers it’s a lot of specific reasons they have more star power like you said there’s more secondary shot creation support for LeBron James and even even extending into this the typical stuff that we know matters the most when we get to the NBA Playoffs so

For instance the Lakers have the size to match up with a lot of teams that other teams do not the Lakers have more Superstar Talent than the Warriors have the Lakers have even just among the guys in their rotation that are younger they’re younger players with playoff

Experience now ruy haimura was there for the Deep playoff run Austin Reeves was there for the Deep playoff run a lot of these guys like psky FR Jackson Davis they’re like kaminga barely played in last year’s playoff run so like I think they’re just more primed even if we do

Acknowledge that that trend is flipping and I want to be clear that trend is flipping because I actually see the the Warriors going on a Lakers esque second half run for a bunch of specific reasons one they have the fifth easiest remaining schedule in the NBA which

Especially if you factor in the Western Conference where just I was digging into the numbers the other day the West is just so much deeper with Talent from the top to the bottom I was even I can’t remember the exact numbers but I pulled up like the head-to-head records and the

Western Conference teams have like have uh like a 30 wins in the positive over 500 over Eastern Conference teams head-to-head this year like the West is just deeper and and the Warriors have had acious schedule to start the year with Draymond playing in only 20 of the

Games and so I think there’s a lot of potential for the Warriors to go on that type of run but again when you get down to like the playoff groupings and it’s like it’s probably going to be Steph clay Andrew Wiggins Jonathan kaminga and Draymond Green it’s just with some of

The decline we’ve seen from Klay Thompson with Jonathan kaminga being so young it’s just hard to pick them in in in in a series the way that you can kind of see the Lakers kind of getting to that point uh I want to be I want to be

Clear though like both of these teams they’re both kind of poised to head into that playin tournament range and our top two teams in the western conference are the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves two teams that are extremely good and I’m not trying to

Sit here and undercut the good that they bring to the table but between some of the limitations that we’ve talked about with the timber wolves and some of their late game execution their clutch offense has been garbage in the last like month or so and then you look at the Thunder

And some of the limitations they have as being a young and small team it’s kind of crazy because I agree with you Carson both of these teams are seemingly in worse position than they were last year yet it’s like you get into that seven eight slot and you have a chance it’s

Like man I I don’t think it’s off the table so before we move on I want to give you guys one one more followup do you think it’s more likely than not that either team pulls off a first round upset or more likely than not that they

Both lose in the first round or miss the playoffs entirely I think it is more likely than not if we’re viewing them as a collective probably that they lose in the first round or Miss entirely just because I’m struggling to see it with the Warriors right now and there is a

Lot still that I like and I know that their record is poor but by net rating like they’ve been a better team than the Lakers they’ve had some of the worst late game exit execution and also luck they’ve lost so many close games this year they have dealt with draymond’s

Absence for an extended period and they have been looking different as of late because of the dynamic changer that is Jonathan kaminga but I still see some irreversible issues with them and when I look at a team like the Thunder they’re more athletic they have more Dynamic shot creators they’re defending at a

Higher level yeah they’re less experienced but I just think Steph would have to go supernova and when SGA is opposite you and he has the best support cast that’s just tough formula I still think the Lakers have the upside to beat a whole lot of teams out west not the

Nuggets I think the Clippers would be a strong favorite but outside of that LeBron and AD and they have much more secondary shot creation as you mentioned from the perimeter Jason if you’re picking out the two dudes outside of that star tier who it’s like hey run me

A pick and roll float my offense for six minutes you want Austin Reeves and you want D’Angelo Russell more than you want anybody on that Warriors roster after Steph so unfortunately I just think the path is too long for the Warriors right now call me crazy I don’t know if we get

Those hypothetical matchups I think I might take LA and Golden State to win to upset them both I I don’t know dude the experience Factor really matters to me there and you say that it is a tall task to ask Steph to do that but I mean has

Steph given us any reason to doubt him like I don’t know man I I think in that hypothetical matchup I would pick the Lakers and the Warriors to both upset those young teams man I’m I’m going to I’m going to ride with the Old Guard the

Tough one would be the Warriors the the like I think they would need to catch OKC in particular uh to get that first round upset but I think that’s on the table specifically just because I really do think Golden State would have just a huge experience Advantage there Draymond

Green too you could just see him getting all into the gamesmanship in the early phase of the series to like snatch jet hom grin of his confidence and to do some things along those lines I I’m I I lean slightly more towards it’s more likely than not that we get one of those

Teams to upset somebody in the first Round

Jason Timpf is joined by Carson Breber and Logan Camden from ‘Nerd Sesh.’ They discuss the Lakers & Warriors’ chances of making a deep run in the NBA Playoffs, and how LeBron James or Steph Curry could lead their teams to a first round upset over the Oklahoma City Thunder or Minnesota Timberwolves.

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