(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
The NBA world was talking about another impressive and surprising win by the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday morning after LA overpowered the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena on Monday night.
Some fans believe that Monday’s victory, along with recent wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and Boston Celtics, prove that the Lakers might be able to be championship contenders, despite their rocky road this season.
However, Stephen A. Smith isn’t buying that for one simple reason: the Lakers are unable to defeat the reigning champion Denver Nuggets.
“How am I supposed to consider you a serious threat when the reigning defending NBA champions continuously abuse you?” Smith said on Tuesday’s episode of “First Take.”
.@stephenasmith doesn’t consider the Lakers a legitimate threat in the West
“How am I supposed to consider you a serious threat when the reigning defending NBA champions continuously abuse you?” pic.twitter.com/mVDThg7jFv
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 5, 2024
It is true that the Lakers have a hard time taking down the Nuggets and haven’t done so in a very long time.
As Smith pointed out, beating the Nuggets should be the measuring stick to judge a team’s strength.
If a squad is able to score a win over the reigning champions, then they have a shot at winning a title.
But if they can’t figure out Nikola Jokic and his crew, they don’t have any chance of earning the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The problem for the Lakers is that they often keep it close with games against the Nuggets.
It seems like they remain competitive for most of the match and then give the game away in the fourth quarter.
If they were simply able to figure out how to prevent that, they would have a chance at securing a win against Denver.
Whatever the reason, the Lakers aren’t able to overcome this obstacle, and it is a really big one.
The Nuggets might not be the top team in the West right now but Smith and many other analysts still believe they are the squad to beat.
The Lakers can’t do that so do they really have a shot at winning the the Western Conference Finals?
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