The first round of the NBA playoffs is underway, among which the series between the Lakers and the Nuggets is the most concerned, everyone is looking forward to the Lakers returning to their home court to get a city back, but the result is that the Nuggets 4 players broke out and scored 20+, although Laker Reaves also scored 22 points, but the overall strength is still much worse than the Nuggets, and the Lakers series has fallen behind 0-3, what does this mean? The first 151 teams in history that fell behind 0-3 were all eliminated, and the Lakers can't seem to create a miracle, maybe in the next game, the Lakers will be swept on their home court.
After all, James came to the West in 2018 and has been in a row for 6 consecutive years, including 1 championship, 1 time to the Western Conference finals, and the rest of the time either did not enter the playoffs or did not pass the first round. There are too many contrasts, James is in the East, he has never been out of the first round, and he has really tried 8 consecutive finals, and his ability to guarantee the bottom is too strong. James can win 8 consecutive Finals in the East, why did he struggle to even get past the first round in the West?
First of all, it should be noted that James in the East is the strongest James, he averaged 31 points per game when he started the playoffs in 2006, and by the last time in the East in 2018, he played Thanos Zhan-like state. But this year, James is 34 years old, he has overdrawn his body, and he rarely misses games, but after coming to the Lakers, he has frequent injuries and often needs to miss 8 out of 10 games to recover. Now, James is almost 40 years old, but fans still demand so much from him, while other superstars in history have basically retired at the same age. It can only be said that James's strength makes us forget his age, in fact, it is already a very good performance to be able to enter the playoffs at this stage.
When James was in the East, the roster was significantly better than the current Lakers. Russell, Reaves and other players, although the fans are happy, but in the end they are only role players, far from reaching the level of superstars, and the Lakers are at most the big two. And in the East, starting from the Heat, for seven or eight consecutive years, James's team is the configuration of the Big Three, and the lineup can be said to be the only one in the league. It is an indisputable fact that the overall strength of the East is worse than that of the West, and this season's Lakers can also enter the top half of the East if they are put in the East, but they will have to play in the play-offs in the West.
Once you can't enter the top half of the West in the West, it means that the opponent in the first round will be very strong, like the Suns that the Lakers met in 2021, and finally reached the finals, and this year's opponent, the Nuggets, but last season's championship, not to mention the Lakers, if you change to any other team, you basically can't pass the Nuggets.
James is really old, although his statistics are still first-class, but there is really no defensive intensity in the small-ball era, and James is several times worse than his peak self. And the Lakers' team-building ability is indeed poor, and the reinforcement every year does not have a good effect, and James can get too little help, and it is even more difficult to break through.