{"id":328419,"date":"2020-08-20T06:06:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T20:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=328419"},"modified":"2020-08-20T06:06:31","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T20:06:31","slug":"lakers-it-is-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lakers-it-is-but\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers it is, but"},"content":{"rendered":"
Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 LeBron James, right, celebrates with teammate Anthony Davis during a timeout in the second half of an NBA game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sorry Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. Your triple-double rush this season with the Dallas Mavericks and do-it-all game with the Milwaukee Bucks are not enough to convince Saipan basketball fans that your squad will take the championship in the NBA Bubble.<\/p>\n

Not even Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers\u2019 upset in yesterday\u2019s first round playoff series opener against the Los Angeles Lakers could persuade the island\u2019s NBA followers from reconsidering their obvious picks for the winner of the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy\u2014the team known for its purple and gold jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cLakers in 7 over the Clippers because LeBron is just a different animal in the playoffs plus with Anthony Davis (barring any injury) and great, experienced supporting cast,\u201d said Charlie Rivera, who ironically is a supporter of the Lakers\u2019 No. 1 rival, the Boston Celtics. <\/p>\n

Despite choosing the Lakers, Rivera felt the Lakers road to the NBA Finals will be tough, especially in the first round. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers should not take for granted the lethal combo of Lillard and [CJ] McCollum of Portland and with Melo [Carmelo Anthony] proving he can still play at a very high level and now knows how to play defense, these guys have a chance to upset the great Lakers,\u201d Rivera said.<\/p>\n

The Blazers did stun the highly favored Lakers, 100-93, in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first round series in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

Marianas High School coach and former CNMI National Team player Preston Basa also gave props to \u201cDame\u201d and company, but will still put his money on the Lakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say Lakers and the Raptors (NBA Finals pairing). However, the Blazers are looking really good, but not enough to change my mind at this time,\u201d Basa said.<\/p>\n

Rollers Basketball Club founder and head coach Joe Diaz also thinks the Lakers will play the Toronto Raptors in this season\u2019s finale.<\/p>\n

\u201cLakers definitely have the edge, but it will be close. Still, I would still pick Toronto Raptors because they have a very good coach [Nick Nurse] and play like my team\u2014the Golden State Warriors\u2014which they defeated last season,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

If and when the Lakers eliminate the dangerous Blazers, they will play in the West semis the winner in the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma Thunder, while the other pairings in the group are Denver Nuggets against Utah Jazz and LA Clippers versus the Dallas Mavericks. Over on the east side, the Bucks are paired against the Orland Magic; Raptors opposite the Brooklyn Nets; Indiana Pacers versus the Miami Heat; and the Boston Celtics against the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

Rick Brien, a Lakers fan, believed it will be LA against LA in the West finals before his favorite team battles Antetokounmpo\u2019s Bucks for all the marbles. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers and Clippers are pretty equal in terms of offense, so defense will be the key. In the Eastern Conference, it will be Raptors and Bucks. If Toronto manages to contain Giannis, the Raptors will return to the finals,\u201d Brien said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s Lakers and Bucks in the finals, my team will have the big advantage in experience because the Bucks have a lot of young players and their inexperience showed when they lost last season to the Raptors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Bucks won the first two games in last year\u2019s NBA Finals only to collapse, as the Raptors swept the next four to win the division and eventually the title after stunning the Warriors, 4-2.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that the Lakers missed last season\u2019s playoffs, but that sorry performance was already a thing of the past, according to referee\/masters player Sonny Ebuen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey now have Anthony Davis to work with LeBron. Both LA teams will play in the West finals and though Lakers will have a hard time against the Clippers, still they will win,\u201d Ebuen said, who then chose Boston as the dark horse to challenge Bucks in the East finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have picked the 76ers, but Ben Simmons got injured,\u201d Ebuen said.<\/p>\n

Rivera is also not giving up on his Celtics.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoston is my dark horse in the East, if Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue doing great things in the bubble plus Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward getting back to their All-Star form, the Celtics have a chance to make it to the East finals,\u201d Rivera said.<\/p>\n

Basketball game announcer Alvin Alvarez is going sentimental with his choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t it be nice if the Lakers win this year\u2019s championship in memory of Kobe?\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. Your triple-double rush…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":328442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}