It’s been just over eight years since the Los Angeles Lakers last played a playoff game at Staples Center. They played a play-in game against the Golden State Warriors at Staples earlier this month, but that wasn’t technically a playoff game, even though LeBron James felt like it was.
“I’m going to be honest, man: our Laker faithful — in that Warriors game, in that play-in game — made it feel like a playoff game and we treated it like a playoff game,” James said after Tuesday’s game. “Obviously this is a different situation but it felt like it.