After winning the NBA Championship last season, the Los Angeles Lakers are everybody’s favorite to win it all again in 2021.
Unfortunately, Game 1 against Phoenix only confirmed the difficulty of the road ahead for L.A., who doesn’t yet look like themselves.
After the game, Lakers legend Magic Johnson Tweeted his thoughts, admitting that the Purple and Gold looked a little out of sorts.
The @Lakers didn’t play well in their play in game against the Warriors and it carried over to Game 1 against the Suns. They’re out of sync and not in rhythm offensively.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 23, 2021
He also gave his due credit to Phoenix, who saw offensive explosions from Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker looked awesome in his first playoff game, scoring 34 points in the Suns 99-90 win. He had help from Deandre Ayton, who outplayed Lakers big man Anthony Davis, scoring 21 points and 16 rebounds.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 23, 2021
While it was an impressive victory for Phoenix, it is worth noting that the Lakers lost Game 1 of their first-round matchup last year, too, before going on to win the whole thing.
The lesson here is that the first game of a series isn’t always an indicator of how the rest of the matchup will play out.
At a glance, the Lakers have every advantage in the book. Their stars are better and they have more experience.
Still, the health of Bron and AD are certainly questionable, and the Suns’ talent on both ends of the floor cannot be overlooked.
In the end, no matter what the result, this series will not be an easy one for the Lakers, and Game 1 may be evidence of that.
