The Lakers and Nuggets’ first-round matchup only adds to what is already a stacked Western Conference playoff picture.
LeBron James continues to be the king of the play-in tournament. In the third play-in tournament appearance of his career, James has once again led the Lakers to a playoff berth, this time taking care of the New Orleans Pelicans, 110-106.
This victory sets up a rematch of the 2023 Western Conference Finals, as the Lakers are slated to take on the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in the first round of this year’s playoff festivities.
The first round of the playoffs in the Western Conference is the gift that keeps on giving. As if fans won’t be spoiled already with the Los Angeles Clippers vs. Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Phoenix Suns first-round matchups, the Lakers’ quest to dethrone the Nuggets will make for entertaining television, especially after the bad blood these two teams have developed following their playoff tussle in 2023.
Now, fans are losing their minds in excitement on social media, with Magic Johnson echoing the sentiment of plenty of fans around the world regarding the Lakers’ impending matchup against the Nuggets.
“NBA fans all over the world, this is what we all wanted! The World Champion Denver Nuggets vs my Los Angeles Lakers Get ready, because this will be must see TV!!” Johnson wrote on his official Twitter (X) account.
Skip Bayless then couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to troll the Lakers; a notorious harsh critic of LeBron James, Bayless put the pressure on their shoulders as they have a chance to defeat the Nuggets while not having endured yet the wear and tear of multiple difficult postseason battles.
“The Lakers are better than the Nuggets. Now they have an early-round opportunity to PLAY better than the Nuggets … before LeBron “runs out of gas,” Bayless wrote.
The Lakers want the Nuggets, get the Nuggets
Following the Nuggets’ run to the championship, head coach Michael Malone couldn’t seem to keep the Lakers’ name off his mouth. This irked LeBron James and Anthony Davis, with the latter revealing his desire for a playoff rematch against the Nuggets prior to the start of the 2023-24 season. Now, Davis has gotten his wish.
At the very least, Lakers fans have immense confidence that they can be a threat to the Nuggets. Sure, they might have been swept in last year’s Conference Finals, but most of those games were close until the end. And with the most experienced playoff performer in league history in LeBron James still around to lead the way, no one should ever count out the Purple and Gold until their playoff opposition gets four wins in a series.
“Lakers have a chance, Nuggets haven’t been as dominant this year,” one fan wrote. Added another, “Lakers are not a bye for the nuggets lmao ppl forget how competitive every game was.”
The Nuggets remain the overwhelming favorite to take the series. Denver has certainly earned that level of respect. But games are played on the court, not on paper. Only time will tell if the Lakers can muster the performances needed to dethrone the presumptive favorite to win it all.
LeBron James and company shut down play-in tanking talk
Prior to the Lakers’ 110-106 play-in win over the Pelicans, there was talk that LeBron James and company should simply punt on that game and focus on winning the second play-in game so they could face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round instead of the Denver Nuggets.
This was an enticing option to some because the Lakers have shown that they might be a bad matchup for the Thunder. Oklahoma City’s biggest weakness is their inability to clean up on the glass, and the Lakers always sense blood on the backboards whenever they’re facing OKC.
The Lakers won the season series against the Thunder, 3-1, and their collective playoff experience may have presented some difficulties for a young squad.
Nonetheless, throwing the 7/8 matchup against the Pelicans was a preposterous notion to begin with; the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors went a combined 7-1 against the Lakers this season, so putting themselves in a spot to lose out on the playoffs entirely against two teams that know how to beat them would have been catastrophic.
Their reward for it may be a matchup against the Nuggets; that is as difficult of a first-round matchup as it gets. But the Lakers, or any other team for that matter, know better than to incur the wrath of the basketball gods. It’ll now be interesting to see if LeBron James has one more deep playoff run in him.