The Los Angeles Lakers have been a subpar team for the majority of the season, and most people would agree that they aren’t the championship-caliber team that many suggested they would be at the start of the season.
Even though the team has struggled at times this year, a lot of people expect the Los Angeles Lakers to make the playoffs via the play-in tournament this year. Based on the amount of talent on the Lakers’ roster, there is definitely a good chance that happens.
With that being said, some of the Los Angeles Lakers’ opponents have good squads themselves, such as the New Orleans Pelicans. While it was reported that Zion Williamson is likely out for the season, the Pelicans do have other great players on their roster, such as CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram. Jay Williams has even expressed the notion that the New Orleans Pelicans could defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in tournament even without Zion Williamson.
.@RealJayWilliams doesn’t think Zion will play this year 👀 pic.twitter.com/YioLCLV2sl
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 24, 2022
“I still think the Pelicans, in a play-in scenario, could beat the Los Angeles Lakers without Zion… We’re all of a sudden expecting the Lakers just to turn it on down the stretch? I know LeBron James can turn it on. I don’t know if everybody else can turn it on around him to beat the Pelicans.”
Jay Williams is correct in saying that LeBron James can hit another gear in the postseason. We’ve seen that happen multiple times in his career. The question marks are about the surrounding roster, and we’ll see if LeBron James can lead his team to victory over a young and hungry Pelicans squad.
The key for the Los Angeles Lakers will be to finish the season strong and build some momentum as they head to the play-in tournament. They’ve looked better as of late, and have had good wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors recently. Hopefully, we see them be able to continue to improve over the last stretch of the season.
