NewsUSALeBron James looks for his last dance: puts the Lakers in the Western final

LeBron James looks for his last dance: puts the Lakers in the Western final

No one would have said at the beginning of the season that the Lakers would be at this point about to play the final of the Western Conference of the NBA. LeBron James’ team was crawling on the slopes. They started the season with a series of 2 wins and 10 losses. They were last in the standings. Nobody bet a penny on them. This Friday, they have eliminated the current champions, Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors, the most dominating team of the last decade in the NBA. LeBron’s Lakers look for their last dance.

The “last dance” is how the season of the sixth and last title of the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan is known, in 1998. There was the feeling of the end of an era. Nobody knows how much time LeBron James has left on the court, but at 38 years old, his era is also coming to an end, although games like this Friday make him doubt it: he had 30 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. He took another notch to his revolver: he became the player with the most series wins in the playoffs: 41.

The Lakers already only have two rivals ahead on their way to take the ring, which would be the fifth of their career for their star. The first hurdle is the Denver Nuggets. The winner of both will play the NBA final against the Eastern champion, who will come out of the final between the Miami Heat and the winners of the tie between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers.

The most decorated team in the NBA has been transformed twice during the season. First, it just started working. Center Anthony Davis took turns with LeBron as top scorer and rebounder. James was advancing towards his historic points record. Meanwhile, the team improved its win-loss balance a bit and avoided the ridicule of last season and the beginning of this one.

The second transformation came in the last market window, with the signing of D’Angelo Russell, the departure of Russell Westbrook and the ownership of Austin Reaves. With Russell, James and Davis on the court, the Lakers’ record in regular season games was nine wins and one loss. They ended up just the opposite of where they started and slipped into the playoffs almost at the last moment.

For the Golden State Warriors it is a sad farewell. They have been hampered this year by injuries and their inability to win games away from San Francisco regularly. But also that its stars, in particular Stephen Curry, have not performed at the same level as last year. Curry is incredibly talented and has played memorable games, but his miracles have been less frequent this year.

With one of those miracles, the 50 points in a seventh playoff game, the Warriors saved the tie with the Sacramento Kings of Domantas Sabonis at home. In the end, they have lost in the series against the Lakers, in which they had the home field advantage. The defeat in the first game in San Francisco has marked a tie in which the Warriors have been unable to win any of the three games played in Los Angeles. Coach Steve Kerr breaks a historic winning streak in West playoffs.

Stephen Curry, dejected by the elimination of the Golden State Warriors.Santiago Mejia (AP)

a new balance

The Lakers have found a new balance with the arrival of D’Angelo Russell and the ownership of Austin Reaves. LeBron James has assumed that he doesn’t need to exceed 30 points per game and seems willing to step down when it suits him and reserve himself for key moments. He is still a wonder. Anthony Davis is in top form. He is a wall in defense, where he intimidates with his blocks and his 2.08 meters tall. Also, he rebounds on both hoops and shoots more and more. He is once again the 2020 center who won the title with James in the bubble season.

Along with James and Davis, both Russell and Reaves are putting up 15 points per game. They have assumed that they are not the stars of the team, but their work is proving decisive. Reaves, who signed a spectacular basket this Friday from his own field at the end of the second quarter and added, he is becoming the revelation player in his second season in the NBA. He is 24 years old and was not selected in the draft of 2021 (he did not want to be chosen in the 42nd position by the Detroit Pistons), but he has been earning the respect of his teammates in the Lakers and the confidence of the coach.

The German Dennis Schröder completes the starting team and the Japanese Rui Hachimura acts as the sixth man. Other secondary put their grain of sand. This Friday’s game, in which the Lakers have dominated from start to finish, with much more success from the line of three than the Warriors, but also a powerful inside game, is an example of this new balance.

The Denver Nuggets face this partial final as favorites. They were the conference leaders in the regular season, with a record of 53 wins and 29 losses. But they find themselves face to face with the Lakers, the historically dominant team in the Western Conference, who have crossed paths with the Nuggets again and again at key moments. They have lost the last three conference finals they have played with them: in 2020, in 2009 and in 1985. (They only played another one, against the missing Seattle Supersonics, compared to those they lost in 1978).

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest Posts

Read More
More