The long, winding road of the regular season is over. The Lakers finally clinched their playoff spot, needing a LeBron James 34-footer with the shot clock nearly expired to dispatch of the Warriors in the play-in game. Their reward is the 7th seed and a date with the Phoenix Suns and their dynamic backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
There’s things that do not work in the Lakers favor here that we should get out of the way now. First, they do not have home court advantage (and won’t for the rest of the playoffs, however far they advance).