The Denver Nuggets took a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. Denver trailed by 20 points in the third quarter, but came all the way back and won it at the buzzer on a Jamal Murray jumper over Anthony Davis. Denver has now won 10 straight games over Los Angeles and are well on their way to advancing to the second round. Having said that, you guys want to talk about an alternate universe where the Nuggets weren’t about to sweep the Lakers for the second straight year?
That’s the conversation that took place on Get Up on Tuesday morning as Mike Greenberg and Tim Legler innovated a unique new way to discuss how dangerous the Lakers could be in the playoffs, even though they’re halfway eliminated three days into the postseason.
“If Anthony Davis is this dominant, and this aggressive, absolutely the Lakers have enough to beat any team in the Western Conference, except [the Nuggets].”
👀 @LegsESPN pic.twitter.com/6BpJUwaho0
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 23, 2024
“Someone change my mind that the Lakers would not beat anyone else in the West,” Greenberg said to the panel. “That was the reason I was making that point. Watch the way they’re playing, Legs, you tell me what other team in the West they couldn’t beat. I’m not saying they’re a lock to win any series, but I would pick the Lakers in a series against any of the other team in the Western Conference.
Yes. Name one other team that they aren’t playing and aren’t going to play that they couldn’t hypothetically defeat! Greenberg will pick the Lakers to beat them right now. Not that they definitely would, but they could! If they played. In an alternate universe where they weren’t already down 0-2 to Denver.
Legler then explained why the Lakers would be so tough to beat… in this other world where they weren’t currently getting beat.
“There’s so much more to come in the Western Conference to see how these series are going to play out. Maybe I’d have a different opinion on that when I see what transpires in for instance the Clippers – Mavericks series. Let’s see when Kawhi injects himself into that and how do those two teams look going forward. Maybe I’d have an argument about that. I don’t know if the Lakers can beat those two teams, but what you’re saying clearly has merit because of the way Anthony Davis looks right now.”
Give Legler some credit. He needs to watch some more of the existing series that is actually taking place before rushing to judgement and picking the Lakers over the Clippers and/or Mavericks in imagined scenarios. Having said that, Greenberg apparently has a point!
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Lakers and Nuggets play again on Thursday and then Saturday night. If Los Angeles can’t win at least one of those games then we’re going to have to shift our conversation to just how dangerous the Lakers can be in the 2025 postseason. It should make for great fodder as they try to escape the Play-In for the third straight season.