NBA takeaway No. 4: LA vs. LA in the second (even first) round?!
Last season we were all awaiting the Western Conference Finals: Lakers vs Clippers. Crosstown “rivalry” (if you can bring yourself to lie to people’s faces). LeBron James and Anthony Davis vs. Kawhi Leonard and Pandemic P. And of course, the Clippers did their thing and flopped out of the second round.
Both teams got better over the offseason. The Lakers added Dennis Schroeder, Marc Gasol, and Montrezl Harrell. The Clippers added Nicolas Batum, Serge Ibaka, and…Luke Kennard (I guess?). Talent-wise, they are still considered the top two teams in the conference, if not the league. But the standings do not reflect that. And the Los Angeles teams may be forced to meet before the WCF, meaning one would go home early.
As it stands right now, the Lakers and Clippers hold the No. 3 and No. 4 spots in the Western Conference standings, respectively. This would actually keep them in opposite brackets until the WCF, should they make it there.
But the scenarios are considerably larger than if they were sharing the No. 1 and No. 2 slots (owned by Utah and Phoenix right now). If they end up at any combination of 1 vs. 4 or 2 vs. 3, they’re going to meet in the second round (should they both make it of course).
If they share the No. 4 and No. 5 slots (which is super possible!), however, we’ll have a LA vs. LA first-round matchup. Quite possibly would be the most anticipated first-round matchup of my lifetime. Whatever the standings end up being, we are seeing the value of getting a top seed in the West.