Piece Written By: Joseph Carosi
Finally. Sports are back. Sure, it isn’t the tradition we’re used to, but as sports fans we’ll take what we can get. The NBA decided to give us a gift for our patience during this troubling time by having the Lakers take on the Clippers on the opening night of the restart. So now comes the time where we all get to debate about who will win the game and what it could mean for the winning team going forward.
Without beating around the bush, I’m taking the Lakers in this one. I think it’ll be a hard-fought matchup, but there’s a few factors into my decision. The first reason is because prior to the season break, the Lakers had found their rhythm. The faced the Milwaukee Bucks and the Clippers back-to-back and beat them both. Lebron James and Anthony Davis looked good and even the bench seemed to be playing better than usual. Obviously having the large gap of time off is going to ruin any momentum you had, however it seemed like the team figured it out and I believe they will be able to find that momentum once again. They Lakers will be without their starting shooting guard Avery Bradley and veteran point guard Rajon Rondo, but I think the team will be able to overcome those losses. Kyle Kuzma will presumably have a bigger role, and the meme man himself Alex Caruso can help fill that hole.
The next and probably most obvious reason has to be Lou Williams. Luckily for the Clippers it looks like Patrick Beverley will be playing in the game, however the sixth man of the year recipient will not be playing. Williams broke the rules and left the Orlando Bubble, so he now has to serve a 10-day quarantine. This is a big loss for the Clippers as Williams provides the team with crucial scoring off the bench when they need it, as in about 19 points per game while averaging 28 minutes per game. You take that away and he’s a pretty good defender, which isn’t good for a defensive team like the Clippers.
This kind of leads into my next point which is that compared to the Lakers the Clippers have not been able to gel quite as well as the Lakers. Between Kawhi Leonard load managing and Paul George being injured to start the normal season the two new stars of the Clippers didn’t have a chance to play much on the court together. Compared to Davis and James who have started virtually every game together. They couldn’t even practice together due to social distancing rules and quarantining in general. This also affected the Lakers no doubt, but James and David will not have too much trouble getting back into the swing of things as Leonard and George in my opinion.
I picked the Lakers to win, so then what does that mean going forward. Well if it turns out I’m wrong and they do lose. Laker nation should be reasonably worried. I don’t want this to sound like a free win foe the Lakers because it isn’t, but due to the few advantages the Lakers have over the Clippers it would be worrisome for their future. As in they could fall in the bracket before reaching the Western Conference Finals match. The Houston Rockets are still there, the Dallas Mavericks are a threat, maybe even the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz (if Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert can work out their differences). For the Clippers a win would be big. Being down a pseudo star player, not being able to really gel together, etc. would definitely put a smile on Clippers fan’s faces. Nothing can be guaranteed as far as winning the championship goes, but having a strong start to steer the team in the right direction will not hurt either of these teams.
That’s my take on this intriguing matchup. At the end of the day whether you’re taking the Clippers or the Lakers, I think we can all agree that just having the NBA back is a win.