Road to Repeat: These two teams are the greatest threats to the Lakers’ hopes at repeating


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With LeBron James captaining the ship and Anthony Davis at the helm, the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to an NBA championship last season. The duo proved to be too much of a handful, as the Purple and Gold came up short in just five playoff games before putting a ring on its finger. 

This time around, it won’t be that easy. No one will hand the Lakers the Larry O’Brien trophy; this season, they’re going to have to earn it. Let’s take a look at the two most menacing opponents that stand in the way of the Lakers and an 18th title banner in STAPLES Center. 

Brooklyn Nets

In the NBA playoffs, when the clock is ticking and every possession feels like life or death, you need players that can go and get you buckets. Referees let ticky-tacky fouls go, defenses are ultra-focused and coaches are on high alert, constantly mulling over game plans, rotations and matchups.

Players who can create space to knock down jumpers in their defender’s grill, or attack the paint and put pressure on the rim, are the ones that excel in these high-pressure situations. Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving are all playoff-proven scorers — we have watched them hit shot after shot in postseasons over the last decade. 

Now, the trio has found their way to Brooklyn, putting up a 5-1 record when all three professional scorers are on the court. They seem to have a willingness to take a backseat for each other, which begs the question: Can these guys lose four out of seven times in a playoff series?

If they were even average defensively, the Nets would be unbeatable. Unfortunately, they can’t guard a chair, posting the fifth-worst defensive rating in the league. 

The stunning part about this Nets team is that their dreadful defense might not even matter, due to the elite shot creation that Harden, Irving and Durant bring to the table. You could even throw me out there with them, and we might survive because of the overwhelming talent of that three-headed monster.

Los Angeles Clippers

Throughout last season, the matchup between the Lakers and Clippers — the Battle of L.A., the Fight for STAPLES Center — generated droves of excitement in the NBA world. The Lakers took care of business against the Rockets to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they eagerly awaited the Clippers, up 3-1 against the Denver Nuggets. 

Boom. Cue the Clippers implosion. Up double digits in all three close-out games, neither Kawhi Leonard nor Paul George stepped up to the plate and knocked the Nuggets out of the park. Instead, the Clippers let them hang around, until suddenly, Paul George found himself throwing corner threes off the side of the backboard, with Kawhi Leonard unable to put the clamps on the Nuggets star Jamal Murray. 

This season, the Clippers are out to give NBA fans what they deserved — a seven-game showdown between the two L.A. giants. After being the laughingstock of the league during the offseason, Leonard and George came out guns-blazing to open the season, scoring efficiently from all three levels of the court — at the rim, in the midrange and beyond the arc. 

The same issue still exists for the Clippers. Who is going to put the dagger in their opponent’s heart when it’s crunch time? This season, in the clutch, the Clippers are 30th in defensive rating, 29th in field goal percentage and 20th in win percentage. When the going gets tough and they need a clutch bucket or a defensive stop, PG-13 and the Klaw aren’t acting like superstars. 

For the Clippers, it almost feels as if they have to win this NBA championship. After the humiliating meltdown against the Nuggets, it’s hard to believe Kawhi Leonard and Paul George won’t do everything in their power to put that in the past. What better way to do that than to dethrone the reigning champs in their own home?

The Nets and Clippers are just two of many teams the Lakers need to keep their eye on. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen this type of parity across the league — there is no looming Cavaliers-Warriors-esque matchup that we saw for four years straight. 

With no overwhelming favorite, any team could win this condensed marathon of a season, knocking the Lakers off the road to repeat.

Sahil Kurup is a freshman writing about the Los Angeles Lakers. His column, “Road to Repeat” runs every other Friday.