Will any team catch the Los Angeles Lakers in the West?
Heading into the stretch run of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers are currently four games clear of the Denver Nuggets for the top seed in the Western Conference. However, as the regular season winds down, there’s going to be a real rest vs. homecourt that the Lakers will need to answer.
LeBron James is 36 years old and Anthony Davis has a history of being injury-prone. After such a fantastic first half of the season, there’s no way the Lakers will want to throw it all away by playing LeBron and AD in meaningless games and minutes.
While there’s no question that the Lakers will want to secure homecourt advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs, they likely won’t be able to catch Milwaukee (in the East) but also need to keep LeBron and AD fresh if they have any hope in beating the likes of the Clippers in the playoffs. The other LA team has both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on a load management program, and they will undeniably be fresh heading into the postseason.
Question is, will the Lakers adopt something similar in the second half of the season to keep LeBron and AD healthy and fresh? And if so, would that open to door for the Nuggets, Clippers or Jazz to sneak into the top seed in the West?