3 things the Lakers can’t allow to happen vs. Warriors
The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Golden State Warriors in a play-in game for the 7-seed. Here are the three things they cannot allow to happen.
The 7-seed in the Western Conference is on the line in Wednesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. This is not where the defending NBA champions thought they’d be entering the postseason, but thanks to injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it’s the nature of their reality.
The safe money is on the Lakers in this winner-take-all scenario; it’s impossible to bet against LeBron in any do-or-die environment. However, the King has only played four games in the last two months after suffering that high ankle sprain, and the Dubs have been on a roll lately.
The Lakers aren’t doomed if they lose this one, since they’ll still be relegated to a win-or-go-home game for the 8-seed against the winner of the Memphis Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs play-in game. But putting it to chance won’t be on anybody’s priority list in LA, so here are three things the Lakers absolutely cannot allow to happen if they want to nip this first play-in game in the bud.
3. Andrew Wiggins making an impact
People gave up on Andrew Wiggins reaching his potential as an impactful two-way player in this league, but that’s exactly what he quietly became in the Bay Area this year. No, he’s not a superstar like everyone expected, but he’s filled his role well for the Warriors, averaging 18.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as a secondary option.
Wiggins is also posting career-bests from the field (47.7 percent) and 3-point range (38 percent on 5.2 attempts per game), in addition to supplying Golden State’s top-five defense with more consistent effort on that end. He’s making an impact on a winning team, in other words, so even though the Warriors are still the Stephen Curry Show, the Lakers cannot allow Wiggins to make them pay for giving Curry extra attention on defense.
Wiggins has been hitting his stride lately, topping 20 points in five of his last eight games, including a 38-point outing in a big win over the Phoenix Suns just last week. He won’t be the primary target of the Lakers’ league-leading defense, but they cannot allow him to feel comfortable and start hitting shots as Curry’s release valve.