Get it together, LA! Lakers and Clippers dropped the ball in Game 1
Photo credit: Los Angeles Lakers/Twitter, Los Angeles Clippers/Twitter
As stacked as the Western Conference has been this season, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are still pegged as favorites.
READ: Top 6 teams from the NBA Western Conference
ALSO READ: Clippers squash Lakers in the battle of LA
But surprise, surprise! Both LA-based teams took a massive L during their respective first games of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. (Feels bad, man!)
The Clippers took on familiar foes Dallas Mavericks, whom they already beat in six games in the first round last year. This should be easy, right? Wrong!
Luka Doncic and the rest of the Dallas team fought back against the Clippers squad.
READ: Kalma lang, Luka! Why Doncic should behave better on the court
As expected, it was a tense match from the get-go. Physicality, thrash talk—all the works! We’ll probably see this throughout the whole series given these two teams just simply don’t get along with each other.
Photo credit: The Hoop Central/Twitter
The above photo is proof that the rivalry is strong between these two teams. Talagang inaasar pa ng Clippers si Maxi Kleber after he got posterized by Kawhi Leonard.
In the end, the Mavericks had the last laugh thanks to some Luka magic. The 22-year-old Slovenian had another triple-double lang naman (no biggie!)—his fourth in seven career playoff games.
Doncic alone trashed the Clippers with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists, leading Dallas to a 113-103 win.
Sino ang asar-talo sa huli? LOL!
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers were still licking their wounds from the play-in after a tough battle just to make it to the playoffs.
READ: LeBron pushes lakers to playoffs, Grizzlies survive
It didn’t get any easier for the defending champs, as they travelled to Talking Stick Resort Arena for Game 1 against a hungry Suns team.
READ: Remembering the last time the Suns made it to the playoffs
The Banana Boat crew reunion between Chris Paul and LeBron James was the main draw, as the two good friends faced off in the playoffs for the first time. In case you don’t know,, the Banana Boat is a hypothetical superteam that includes LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. The aforementioned players are buddies outside of the court and have even taken summer vacations together with their families.
Sounds dope, right? However, LBJ and CP3 did not look chummy at all when Paul sent James crashing to the ground during the game.
Hala, suntukan na ba? A scuffle ensued as Lakers energizers Alex Caruso and Montrezl Harrell received technical fouls, while Suns guard Cameron Payne got ejected. But after four quarters, the Lakers simply had no answer to Suns’ superstar Devin Booker, who outscored both LeBron James and Anthony Davis by himself.
READ: Booker to replace Davis in NBA All-Star game
ALSO READ: Anthony Davis trolls LeBron James after Dubs game
Photo credit: Phoenix Suns/Twitter
D-Book meant serious business in his first career playoff game, torching the Purple and Gold with 34 points, seven boards, and eight dimes. The King and The Brow only had a combined 31 point-outings. Yikes!
Based on this performance, the Los Angeles teams really need to step up their game if they want to survive. Do you think both teams can bounce back and take control of their respective series?