Season Series: 4-0 Kings

 

Injuries: None to report.

 

Prediction: 4-1 Kings

 

The inaugural NSL season is in the books and the first-round match ups are set.  Kings Vs Lakers, both teams have their clear number 1 star and the focus of their team, Gm Klemmelo has made multiple trades throughout the season to get to where the roster is now, while rookie GM PJ has been in the league for limited time. Both Lebron and Russ are the focal points of their given teams and with good reason, on any given night both guys can take over a game and win it for you.  However with Klemmelo being a vet in the NSL/NLL world I think Kings win this series 4-1, Lakers get 1 game off the back of a ridiculous Russ performance.

The Kings took the season series comfortably against the Lakers 4-0:

 

DEC.30 Kings 110 – Lakers 108

DEC.31 Kings 111 – Lakers 101

FEB.29 Kings 128 – Lakers 122

APR.07 Kings 127 – Lakers 122

Kings won all 4 games with an average point differential 5.75, as the season went on the games became higher scoring and this is likely to do with the fact the Kings run at the #1 pace in the entire NSL.

 

Kings Preview:

While you could make an argument for Russ, it is perceived Lebron will be the best player in this series and that’s my belief also. Lebron is averaging 33.3ppg, 7.8rpg, 6.9apg and 2.2spg while shooting 52% from the field on 35.5 minutes per game, crazy numbers!  We can expect Lebron to be hitting the 40 min mark per game in the playoffs so would expect to see these numbers rise.  With most of the attention being on Lebron in this series with good reason, Eric Bledsoe will have to keep up is late season form and be that solid #2 option for the kings, Bledsoe has really come on over the last two weeks of the season averaging 24.55ppg over the last 8 games of the season, perfect timing for playoffs.

The kings have a far superior bench to the Lakers including shot creators like Bogdan Bogdanovic, defensive studs like PJ Tucker and genetic freaks like Boban.

The Kings are in clear win now mode and have given up their future in order to build the roster they have now, only owning one first round pick in 2023.

 

 

Lakers Preview:

Russell Westbrook, the ultimate alpha dog, the Lakers will look to Russ to take control in this series and to be honest they will need him too, if they want to make it out of the first round.  Everytime the Lakers have come up against the Kings, Russ has been well prepared averaging an insane 48.3ppg on 56% from the floor and 46% from the floor, absolutely mind-boggling numbers. The Lakers will need to gain strong contributions from their other key guys as Russ is clearly holding his own.  Tobias Harris is the Lakers second fiddle, Harris averaging 16ppg throughout the season series will look to up his production, under the tutelage of new GM PJ he has shown a slight increase in his points per game improving to 19.26ppg. 

Things get ugly quick when we look to the Lakers bench, the Lakers have no real solid contributors coming off the bench outside of Tim Hardaway JR.

The Lakers are in a strange position, with ex GM Greeny not really making any moves to improve the roster around Westbrook while holding all their future picks.  The Lakers should be in clear win now mode and I can’t help but think if PJ had his seat as the GM prior to the deadline things would look different in the City of Angels.

 

Darkhorse’s of the Series:

There are two dark horses in this series for the Kings: Nerlens Noel and Serge Ibaka.  Both guys are in a contract year and will be seeking a pay day in this upcoming offseason. Noel brings unmatched hustle and defensive toughness to the Kings roster, while Serge boasts elite 3 and D capabilities.  The Kings probably won’t be bringing both back next season and both guys will be looking to play themselves into a contract this offseason.

 

For Kobe:

This will be unfamiliar territory for the Lakers, this will be the first time in 17 appearances in the post season without their fearless leader in the late great Kobe Bryant.  Russ will need to channel his inner Mamba Mentality to take down the Kings. 

Lebron was also very vocal coming into this series saying “This run is for Kobe, if we win this title it’ll be for Kobe”, Lebron and Kobe often compared in the GOAT conversations, but it’s all love from LeBron.

 

Conclusion:

The Lakers have Westbrook, who obviously has the Kings number and knows how to score on them The Kings seemed to have figured out what works best around LeBron down the stretch of the regular season, they have a veteran GM and Homecourt advantage, a deeper bench and the best player in the series in LeBron James. Kings in 5.