The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of one of their better seeding games in a victory against the Denver Nuggets, 124-121. Former Lakers head coach Luke Walton and the Sacramento Kings await them for one last tune-up. Thursday marks the final seeding game before the playoffs began on August 17th. The Lakers will enter as the Western Conference’s top-seed and still await their opponents as games come to a conclusion.
The Budding Kyle Kuzma
We may be seeing the rise of Kyle Kuzma as the two-way wing that the Lakers have needed. He’s taking the best assignments against Kawhi Leonard, T.J. “Michael Jordan” Warren, and James Harden. He is scoring 15.4 points per game while shooting 44.4 percent from three-point range, by far the best on the team. If the team can catch up to what he’s doing individually, it’s going to be a deep playoff game for the Lakers.
Shooting Carryover?
The lid came off for the Lakers for one night. After games of shooting as low as 10.5 percent from long range, the Lakers hit 48.4 percent of their threes against the Nuggets. Danny Green has been struggling going into the game making four of his 20 attempts from three since the restart. He nailed three of five attempts in their win.
Who’s Next?
As mentioned, the Lakers first round opponent is unknown at the moment. They range from the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers to the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns. Regardless of the outcomes on Thursday night, the team still won’t know until after the play-in tournament. While this could prove to be a scouting disadvantage, the team will make sure that they are prepared once the final buzzer ends on the seeding and play-in games.
Thursday marks the third meeting between the two franchises with a chance for Los Angeles to sweep the season series. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30PM EST/10:30AM PST.
