LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers are hours away from facing the Brooklyn Nets for the first time this season. This is one of the most anticipated showdowns in the league even before the start of the season. The purple and gold are considered the favorites to win the NBA title this year but the Nets are seen as their biggest threat to repeat what they did last October in the Orlando bubble.
After the James Harden trade to the Nets, this duel gained more attention and even though the Lakers are missing a big piece in Anthony Davis, the team is ready to go at it with one of the most talented offensive teams in NBA history.
This won’t be the first time the Lakers face a trio of this magnitude and LeBron made that very clear when talking to reporters. The King was asked if he believed there was another team with this firepower and he pointed out to the 2016-2019 Golden State Warriors that dominated the league.
“Um, have we forgot about KD, Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) already?” James said on Tuesday night. “I mean, there you go. There you go right there.”
He knows very well what he’s talking about, as those Warriors beat his Cleveland Cavaliers in two consecutive Finals, 2017 and 2018. He’ll try to not have the same fate this season with these Nets but the absence of AD makes things difficult for the Lakers.
Moreover, there is a difference between the Nets’ Big 3 and the Warriors one; they are scoring more points than the Dubs ever did and they’ve played only a handful of games together. Via ABC News:
But the most points Durant, Curry, and Thompson ever averaged in their three seasons together was 75.8 per game in 2018-19.
Durant (29.0), Irving (28.3), and Harden (23.9) entered Tuesday averaging 80.7 points for the Nets this season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcILJz47cI
Anthony Davis’ absence will be huge for the Lakers; he’ll be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks to see how serious his Achilles injury is. Meanwhile, LeBron and the rest of the Lakers will try to take down a team that, as the Brow said, is expected to be the purple and gold’s biggest threat for the NBA title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fkm5y9Judg
