With the second round of the NBA Playoffs underway, we asked Lakers Nation which team they thought would make it to the Finals.
It’s been exactly one week since the Lakers were eliminated, but they never had a realistic chance of competing for a title once Kobe Bryant went down with his injury.
Here are the results of our poll:
Surprisingly, 39 percent believe the Memphis Grizzlies will advance to the finals while the Spurs came in second at 28 percent.
However, the Grizzlies are already down 1-0 in their series after the Thunder pulled out a two-point victory earlier this morning. It seems that without Russell Westbrook the Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t the prohibitive favorite to advance as they only received 16 percent of the vote.
Against the Lakers, the Spurs looked like a well oiled machine as they executed perfectly on both offense and defense. Even though they have had a week off, the Spurs should be able to control the tempo and defeat the upstart Warriors in their second round matchup.
Many still believe Memphis will beat the Thunder as their ability to lock teams down defensively will be key. This season against the Lakers, Memphis won two of the three meetings and used that stifling defense against Kobe and company.
It’s interesting to see Memphis center Marc Gasol help carry the Grizzlies since he was the key piece the Lakers traded to acquire his brother, Pau. Unlike the other three teams, there isn’t bad blood between the Lakers and Grizzlies which definitely played into why Memphis received so much of the vote.
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In case you missed it, be sure to check out what Mitch Kupchak had to say about Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant!
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