I think a lot of you are underestimating the lakers and Paul’s loss. The lakers have the best defensive team in the nba. Even with Davis and Lebron missing large stretches of the season. That doesn’t happen by accident. Fans make the mistake of looking at a mediocre offensive team and thinking they aren’t good all the time while not realizing how good they are defensively. This lakers team is a very good defensive team.
now combine that with having two superstars, who are going to get superstar calls. We can complain about that all we want, but that’s been the way of the nba for as long as I’ve watched it.
the rancid cherry on top is Paul’s injury. If/when he plays right now he’s an unfortunate liability. If he doesn’t, as well as Payne has played he is definitely a step back. And that also impacts the play of the rest of the team as well. And it means Moore plays backup minutes which is a step back from Payne playing the backup minutes. Our depth should make the loss of any player not named Booker or Ayton not catastrophic, but it definitely hurts a lot. The fact it’s arguably our best, or co-best, player makes it hurt a lot more.
at full strength I think we would’ve taken this series in 5, maybe 6. Yes, I’ve seen that light. But unless we see (a) a miracle return to health by Paul, (b) the making of an elite level superstar in book and/or Ayton all of a sudden, or (c) a string of games where our squad comes up crazy from the arc, I have to be realistic and recognize the facts and circumstances just didn’t favor us this series.
