The Los Angeles Lakers went through their trials and tribulations last season from being in the cellar of the conference to making it to the Play-In Tournament after their trade deadline moves.
While climbing out of the 13th seed was a massive challenge, it would not get any easier going up against the No. 2 seed in the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round and then defending champion Golden State Warriors in the conference semifinals.
After a competitive six games against the Grizzlies, L.A. had to figure out how to contain the Warriors’ explosive offense led by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. While Golden State had their regular season struggles, the team still could not be taken lightly.
In another back-and-forth series, the Lakers would defeat the Warriors in six games as well, including a dominant 21-point victory to close it out in Game 6. It’s now a new season, but when discussed last postseason, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr felt that his team was exposed in that series against L.A., via NBC Sports Bay Area:
“Yeah, a lot of good against Sacramento [Kings], coming back, showing the resilience to come back after going down 2-0 and winning a Game 7 on the road. Showing our fortitude and then the Lakers exposed us, we were not a very well-rounded team last year. And so, thinking about that series, watching it, they bottled us up defensively. We didn’t have a counter, so we got to make sure we have counters this year.”
While the postseason run for the Lakers did not end in a championship, it showed how good this team can be with some minor tweaks and improvements. Defeating and defending two teams that have explosive offensive talent with barely anytime to build chemistry and learning how to play with one another on the fly is a success.
It eventfully caught up to L.A. in the Western Conference Finals going against the Denver Nuggets, who have had the same core of guys for years. But, retaining D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves will go a long way to building continuity for the Lakers this offseason.
The Warriors’ big move of the offseason was bringing in an experienced point guard in Chris Paul to pair alongside Curry and Thompson. This will be an experiment to watch throughout this season, but both teams are in for a battle for playoff positioning this season due to the parody in the West.
Kerr: Lakers’ Reaves is emerging as one of ‘better young guys in NBA’
After having to game plan in the playoffs against L.A., Kerr got a chance to coach Reaves during the FIBA World Cup this past summer. When asked about coaching Reaves, Kerr said he believes that he is one of better emerging young players in the league.
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