(Photo by Justin Tafoya/Getty Images)
Coming into the 2023-24 NBA regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers were thought to be one of the most motivated teams in the league because they dealt with all the trash-talk that the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets and their fans sent their way after being swept in the Western Conference Finals.
Unfortunately, the Lakers did not look like the team that wanted to get some revenge against Nikola Jokic and company, as the defending champions made easy work of Darvin Ham’s squad in Denver at Ball Arena.
The Lakers came out flat and outmatched against a championship team that hadn’t missed a beat since lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.
Fortunately for Los Angeles, the team had a chance to bounce back on Thursday night on the home floor of Crypto.com Arena while playing host to Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns, who were without Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.
Even though the Lakers came out on top in this game, it was far from pretty and a bit concerning that it took so much for this supposed title contender to beat a team without two of its stars while at home in Los Angeles, as Chris Broussard of FOX Sports pointed out on “First Things First.”
“It shouldn’t have taken a Herculean effort for the Lakers to beat the Suns without Bradley Beal & Devin Booker. And in Game 2 LeBron has to break his 30-minute restriction?!”
— @Chris_Broussard on AD and why Lakers fans should be discouraged: pic.twitter.com/hORKPMrqFx
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) October 27, 2023
As Broussard mentions, all it took was the second game of the season for James to break his 30-minute restriction against a team that they should’ve beaten with relative ease, even if Durant had a monster game.
It’s far from panic-mode time for the Lakers, but there are definitely some major concerns, and most of them start with Anthony Davis not stepping up and being the player who can dominate on both ends of the floor.
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