The 2019-20 season was a challenging one due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 pandemic) as it turned life upside down right before the home stretch. That left sports in question, especially for teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, who were seemingly on their way to a championship sitting at the top of the Western Conference.
Thankfully, commissioner Adam Silver came up with the Orlando bubble so playoff teams could continue their season and a championship could be crowned.. After a couple of months off, LeBron James and Anthony Davis seemed determined to lead their team to a title.
L.A. would handle the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets in five games in the first two rounds and awaited an opponent for the Western Conference Finals. The L.A. Clippers and Denver Nuggets were dueling it out for that right, and the former were up 3-1 in the series.
But Denver came back and defeated the Clippers in seven games, which meant that the long-anticipated battle for L.A. never happened.
Former Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope recently shared that his favorite series in the bubble was that one as he got to witness the Clippers blow a 3-1 lead and took it a step further in saying that they would have swept the cross-hall rivals in the Western Conference Finals, via The Draymond Green Show:
“That was one of my favorite series of the bubble, that Nuggets-Clippers series. That was just like man, how in the hell… You’re up 3-1 and even if you talked about leaving, you’re up 3-1, finish the job. Lose the next round, you know everyone wanted to see Lakers-Clippers that year. Just finish the job then we can sweep y’all then you can go home, don’t do it now.”
Seeing how the Clippers flamed out in the postseason, Caldwell-Pope’s take about sweeping them may not be as far-fetched when looking back at how dominant the Lakers looked against every opponent during their championship run.
With Paul George and Kawhi Leonard teaming up that same summer Davis came into town, there was an anticipation for those two teams to meet at some point in the playoffs. James willed the Lakers to a big-time win over the Clippers before the season shut down when it felt like they were finding their groove.
Fast forward to when the bubble kicked off, the Lakers defeated the Clippers again and it felt like those two teams were on a collision course to finally face off in the postseason. Yet, the Clippers took their eye off the ball against a rising Nuggets team at that time and paid the price while the Lakers went on to win it all.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Nuggets felt Lakers should’ve beaten them in 2024 playoffs
This past season, the Lakers faced the Nuggets once again in a rematch in the first round. But after leading for nearly 70% of the series, the Lakers ultimately lost in five games.
When reflecting on that series, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said the Nuggets thought they should have lost to L.A.
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