The Los Angeles Lakers don’t seem to be breaking a sweat about their upcoming Western Conference playoff matchup — but perhaps they should be.
The Blazers have struggled all season long and it’s no secret that they are rather weak on the defensive end. But with Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, Carmelo Anthony, Gary Trent Jr., and Hassan Whiteside, they have more than enough weapons offensively to cope.
To make matters worse, their leader and best player (Damian Lillard) is, statistically, one of L.A.’s toughest opponents to stop. In league history, the star guard ranks fourth All-Time in points-per-game against the Lakers at 27.7. He’s behind Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jeffrey Jordan.
Most PPG vs. the Lakers in NBA History
Look who is No. 4. 👀 pic.twitter.com/ILHlWvQW1y
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) August 16, 2020
Considering the way Dame has been playing, and his history against L.A., it doesn’t seem likely that the Lakers will be able to contain him. He will be putting up buckets.
The question is, can AD and LeBron exploit the Blazers enough defensively? Obviously they should be favored in the series, if for no other reason than LeBron’s unbelievable track record in the postseason, and especially in the first round, where he’s 13-0 over his career.
But at the very least, it won’t be an easy series and the Lakers definitely have a problem or two to consider before they gear up for Game 1 on Monday.
