On May 15, Beijing time, from winning the championship in the park in 2020 to returning to the Western Conference in 2023, the Lakers have experienced too many things in the past three years, but what remains unchanged is that the double core of Zhan Mei is still the absolute cornerstone, and they are also the only two people left in the Lakers' championship team three years ago. More importantly, this year's division finals four lake digging Kai heat is exactly the park's four finals, such a god-synchronized magical thing, but also make people look forward to this year's Lakers can replicate the park's miracle of winning the championship. You know, in 2020, the Lakers defeated the Nuggets 4-1 in the Western Conference and defeated the Heat 4-2 in the Finals to win the 17th championship in team history, and it is unknown whether this year will be staged according to such a script.
According to the voting of Tencent News netizens now, as many as 70% of netizens are optimistic that the Lakers will win the championship this year, and the remaining 3 teams have a total of only about 30% of the championship support rate, of which the Nuggets are close to 15% of the votes in second place, the Celtics are ranked third with about 10% of the votes, and the residual Heat has less than 5% of the votes, and the Lakers have 7 major advantages and are also the 18th championship in team history.
Looking at the final four and matchups of the East-West Division finals in this year's playoffs, it is the same as in 2020, as follows:
Go back to the 2020 Division Finals + Grand Finals
Western Finals: Lakers 4-1 Nuggets
East finals: Heat 4-2 Celtics
Finals: Lakers 4-2 Heat
2023 Division Final Matchup
West Final: Nuggets vs Lakers
East Final: Celtics vs Heat
The results of this year's East-West Division Finals, and the results of the Finals after that, are currently unknown, and it will take time to give an answer. However, this year's playoff final four is exactly the same as the park four, this year's finals matchup, whether it is a re-enactment of the yellow-green battle between the Lakers VS Celtics, or the park finals of the Lakers vs Heat, or the Nuggets vs Celtics showdown, or the Nuggets vs the Heat, naturally makes the outside world full of expectations.
Now more than 70% of netizens are optimistic about the Lakers winning the championship, so "Lakers championship" is no longer a slogan, and is expected to become a reality again. As for the Nuggets, Celtics and Heat, the combined support rate for winning the championship is less than 30%, and the Lakers are almost one-sided favored to win the championship, and they are also sitting on 8 major advantages and are expected to reach the top of the championship.
At 38 years old, James is still ageless.
Can you believe it? In the 20th season of his career, the 38-year-old James can still maintain a super high level of competition, and he is still a first-class superstar in the league, and such a unique level of historical endurance, but Jordan and Kobe and other predecessors have not done.
Although the 38-year-old James missed 27 games in the regular season this season, he still averaged close to 29+8+7 per game, and was successfully selected to the All-NBA Second Team, and was selected to the All-NBA Team for 19 consecutive seasons, setting a new all-time record. As for the playoffs, although James' statistics have declined, averaging 23.4 points, 10 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 blocks per game in the first two rounds, he still maintains a very high level of competition.
James' numbers have declined, more because the overall strength of the team has improved, allowing him to appropriately weaken his offensive proportion. James will lead the Lakers to the championship again this year, and he is also aiming to hit the fifth championship of his career and continue to catch up with Jordan's heights.
Healthy thick eyebrows have offensive and defensive dominance.
After the Lakers won the championship in the park season, the past two seasons of the halberd, of which the first round in 2021 and the absence of the playoffs in 2022, the injury of the thick eyebrow brother are all important factors. As for the regular season this season, he missed 26 games due to injury, but he averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 2 blocks per game.
More importantly, the thick-eyed brother who entered the playoffs maintained a healthy mode and also played offensive and defensive dominance. Since the first two rounds of the playoffs, Thick Eyebrows has averaged 21.2 points, 14.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game, in addition to a decline in points, Thick Eyebrows' other statistics have improved compared with the regular season, especially rebounds and blocks are the first in the playoff league. The thick-eyed brother's interior dominance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is amazing, and he is naturally the number one pillar of the Western Conference against Jokic, and it is also an indispensable core part of the Lakers' championship race.
After the Lakers upgraded, the defense rose to tie for second in the league and first in the playoffs.
In the 2020 Park championship season, the Lakers ranked first in the league in defensive efficiency, becoming the foundation for the Lakers to win the championship. In the regular season this season, the Lakers ranked 12th in the league in defensive efficiency, but after the roster upgrade, their defensive efficiency rose to tie for second in the league during the same period.
Compared with the Nuggets' defense is not too good, the Lakers' defensive advantage will be the key to eliminating the Nuggets, especially since the Lakers' defensive efficiency is 106.5 league in the playoffs so far this year. In contrast, the Nuggets 110.1 league is fifth, the Heat 111.0 league is sixth, the Celtics 112.1 league is tenth, the Lakers have the strongest defense in the playoffs, naturally the guarantee of the championship.
The thickness of the Lakers' roster is better than that of the Green Army.
In the first half of the season, the Lakers' roster had obvious problems, but after trading to send away players such as Wilson, Beverley, and Nunn, the Lakers got Russell, Hachimura, Vanderbilt, Beasley, Bamba, etc., and the overall roster thickness was greatly improved, especially to improve defense and three-point shortcomings.
The Lakers also cultivate players such as Reeves through internal digging, and the thickness of the Lakers' roster is now better than that of the Nuggets and Heat, of which the Nuggets playoffs are basically 8-man rotation, and the Heat are the two main players Hiro and Oladipo season reimbursement, the Lakers' lineup thickness has not lost to the Celtics.
Russell returns to the Lakers as a Big 3.
Although Russell's career achievements are far inferior to Wei Shao's, his performance in the playoffs is also inferior to Wei Shao, after all, Wei Shao led the Clippers in the first round almost single-core to re-prove his ability. It's just that Wei Shao is not compatible with James' dual core in the Lakers, which has become an important factor in the Lakers' almost missed playoffs.
On the other hand, after Russell returned to the Lakers, he had excellent outside projection and organizational skills, and was able to perfectly adapt to James' double core, naturally becoming the third largest of the team. Russell averaged 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5 assists in the playoffs this year, especially in 7 games with 17+ games, the Lakers maintained a winning record, and he will be an important player for the Lakers' offensive ability against Murray.
Reeves became the most underrated workhorse in the draft draft.
The undrafted Reeves is an absolute workhorse who was cultivated by the Lakers, averaging 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in the regular season, and increased to an average of 15.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in the playoffs, becoming the Lakers' No. 4 scorer in the playoffs. Reeves is averaging nearly 40 percent three-point shooting in the playoffs this year, plus he is also a sharp player on the defensive end, and he is also an indispensable member of the Lakers' championship race.
Vanderbilt became the Lakers' outside defensive arrowhead.
Although Vanderbilt played less time in the second round against the defending champion Warriors, especially after being stripped of his starting spot in the second round of G6, he only played 4 minutes off the bench. However, Vanderbilt is still an indispensable outside defensive arrow for the Lakers, especially the first round to limit the core of the Grizzlies, Morant, which can be described as a great achievement, and the second round is also a certain degree of interference to limit the shooting power of Splash Brothers Curry and Tang.
Although Vanderbilt doesn't have great stats, his value on the defensive end is extremely important, and against the Nuggets he will be the number one option to limit Murray, and he may also be placed to match Porter Jr. once he feels hot.
Shock continues to become an important X-factor in the Lakers' championship race.
The Lakers have emerged a lot of surprise characters in this year's playoffs, and Walker's explosion at the end of the second round of the G4 game, he single-handedly blasted the Warriors with 15 points, becoming an important node for the Lakers to determine the trend of the series.
As for Hachimura Base's three single games in this year's playoffs, 20+ games are extremely powerful, especially in the first two games against the Grizzlies, scoring 29 points and 20 points off the bench, respectively, becoming the first person in Lakers history since Magic Johnson in the playoffs. Schroder scored double-doubles in five playoff games this year, and his firepower output is also the Lakers' sixth-man offensive firepower.
This year, the Lakers and Celtics have both advanced to the division finals, and both teams are currently tied for the first place in history with 17 titles, and there is no doubt that both sides are eager to win the 18th championship in team history and thus monopolize the all-time first throne. Whether the Zhan Mei Lakers can replicate the miracle of winning the championship in the 2020 park season is also a matter of widespread concern and expectation from the outside world.
(Text/Drunken Lying Float)