The NBA wants seven of those games, but if Saturday night's clock-tampering incident in Los Angeles happens again, they may have to settle for one game and move it.
Another footnote in LeBron James and Stephen Curry's book notes that the Warriors won 128-121, and perhaps the two will do this dance again at the play-in tournament a little over a month later. will be dancing. It's not completely impossible for Golden State or the Lakers to overtake the teams languishing in 8th place, and it's crazy to imagine the Houston Rockets making life miserable for both veteran teams in the meantime. It's not a matter of time.
On the other hand, there won't be a situation where a spot in the Western Conference Finals is on the line like last May. But if this happens, the NBA world will only get one game from him and will want more. Because there's been a lot of investment in his two games. Perhaps at the expense of other compelling stories that will soon take center stage.
Seven consecutive games against top newcomers both seem dangerous given the nature of the game and the thrill of previous matches, but then they're playing against each other, not the powerhouses. I remember that. In fact, it's proven to be worth it throughout the season so far.
While being an attractive team may be confusing, neither team truly deserves a championship. They just happen to be led by a standout winner since Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan left.
April Madness has to do that. That's because one team moves on to another win-or-go-home race, while the other feels destined for an offseason of what-ifs, regrets, and blame. The night wasn't without controversy, even before the shot clock malfunctioned with two minutes left. James' angled triple on Curry's grill resulted in replay showing that James' shoe was on the out-of-bounds line, and the 3-point shot went off the scoreboard about 20 seconds after the issue appeared to be ruled. Stripped away, it seemed too good to be true.
James has seen it all and can't recall an example like that. This is a new rule and is predicated on making things right after important plays in a reasonable manner. Keyword: rational.
An 11-minute delay in which multiple plays were reviewed was followed by another inexplicable delay. This was due to the computer controlling the shot clock, and it killed any momentum in what could have been a meandering end to a really well-played game.
LeBron, sitting a few feet away from him, is too old to yell out the numbers on the shot clock and a man who should be a veteran, Lawrence, a longtime player with the PA Lakers. Considering he was a tantor, he said without irony that he was too old for this kind of thing.
Blame the league for the former, not the latter. Even though we have all been begging the league to use the tools at its disposal to make things right.
And maybe the league gets this play-in thing right, too. It would be crazy to see the Warriors and Lakers chasing the No. 8 seed Dallas Mavericks for the last spot in a traditional setup, but with the added intrigue at No. 9 and No. Some of the fatigue was dispelled.
If there were no play-ins, there would be screaming and groaning about conference imbalance and Adam Silver whining about canceling the conference and moving to a 1-16 playoff model. You can't have Spring Steph and Spring LeBron to help you out as much as you want when the weather breaks.
As a side note, I appreciate that even though Kevin Durant tipped the scales in this great individual rivalry (which he did), the Lakers are hiring the greatest player of all time at the tail end of Anthony's battle. It's kind of funny to see us stumbling around when we haven't. Davis (that's him).
Suffice it to say, if Davis was underrated, he shouldn't be underrated anymore. It's hard to overlook a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, especially when he's dropping 25 points on 12 boards every night, but that's life when it comes to these two supernovas.
Davis nailed Clubber Lang with a blow to the eye that made him snarl, and he went to the locker room never to return, but the Warriors lost a vertical ball from a Draymond Green lob to Jonathan Kuminga. All the space was secured.
The Lakers aren't a great defensive unit, especially James who is picking and choosing his positions and makes great defensive plays in the moment, but he's far from the strength he had when he was younger, but with Davis out, they really need I feel unwell.
This is a highway to the rim, and more importantly, Davis can't punish the Warriors for being the smallest team in the league. Veteran Kevon Looney is targeting Trayce Jackson-Davis' youth and bounce, but he is no match for Davis physically. And there's only so much time Green can protect the Lakers' big man and key part of his game before wondering what impact it will have on opponents.
However, there is a fine line that both teams walk, both due to circumstances and self-inflicted mistakes. Things develop naturally over an 82-game marathon, but Kuminga should have been released sooner. It appears that Green's suspension was necessary to get Steve Kerr to play more, and it took pressure off an overloaded Curry.
Green's suspension for giving Rudy Gobert a million-dollar dream and then giving Jusuf Nurkic a beating is a big reason he's only played in 41 games so far — and the Warriors They are 24-17, on pace for 48 wins under normal circumstances.
But things are never normal or linear in the Bay. It's all too easy to speculate about what the Warriors would be without their emotional leader being conspicuously absent for the second time. It's definitely better than being tied for ninth and potentially facing James in a one-game playoff game.
Next up are the Lakers. James and Davis have been healthy and in great shape this year, and Lakers optimists expected them to carry last year's playoff momentum into this year.
But something hasn't quite clicked, and since the calendar changed to 2024, D'Angelo Russell has remained at an All-Star level (21.1 points, 6.3 assists, 45 percent 3-point shooting). , revealed that there is a disconnect between himself and himself. Coach Dervin Ham always looks like he has lost three games in a row from the spotlight.
So now both teams are staring at each other – wondering how they got here during that difficult delay and wondering if the other team is so good that they're just barely scraping into last place in the playoffs. There was probably plenty of time to think about it. And they know that by the time they can breathe again, they will have to go through the other in an emotional battle to get the next right.
Yeah, and they'll probably play Denver, where reality will hit them hard.
