[ad_1]
LOS ANGELES • After the shortest offseason in league history, the Los Angeles Lakers will open their National Basketball Association (NBA) title defense by hosting the Los Angeles Clippers this morning (Singapore time).
“It’s been a different training ground, to say the least, but for the time we’ve had, which hasn’t been that long, I feel like we’ve worked and improved,” said the MVP of the Finals. (MVP) LeBron James, who along with the rest of his teammates will collect his championship rings before the showdown.
“Obviously, we are not where we want to be long term, but that’s absolutely fine because it’s a long season, it’s a long journey. But to the boys’ credit, we’ve gotten better as the days go by.”
Many feel the Lakers, who went 4-0 in the preseason, improved during the offseason with the additions of current Sixth Man of the Year and former Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell, Sixth Man runner-up and German point guard Dennis. Schroder. , veteran center Marc Gasol and point guard Wesley Matthews.
The renewed supporting cast will complement the All-Star duo of James and Anthony Davis.
James, who won his fourth NBA title on October 11 when the Lakers beat the Miami Heat in six games, averaged 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game, the league’s highest, during the 2019-20 regular season.
Davis averaged a team-high 26.1 points with 9.3 rebounds and finished third in the league in blocks with 2.3 per game.
The Clippers, who were 0-3 in the preseason, including a pair of losses to the Lakers, are eager to put last season’s crushing play-off debacle behind them.
Putting a 3-1 series lead against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, ruining the possibility of a showdown with the Lakers, cost head coach Doc Rivers his job.
Former assistant Tyronn Lue replaced him and will have to make last year’s Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and fellow All-Star Paul George work better together.
Leonard scored a team-high 27.1 points and grabbed 7.1 rebounds per game during the regular season. George, who averaged 21.5 and 5.7 rebounds in the regular season but experienced an inconsistent postseason, seems more motivated by last season’s disappointing finish.
-
2-2 There was little going on between the Lakers and Clippers last season, and they both beat their city rivals twice in the regular season.
“December 22 will not be the test to define who we are and where we are playing against the Lakers in their ring opening ceremony,” the forward told the Los Angeles Times.
“It will be a great ceremony for them. But it is the beginning of what we are trying to do, and that is all we have to see is the beginning of the marathon and the race that we are running for this year.
“So we have enough motivation for this season regardless of whether we start this season with someone else or with the Lakers.”
Marcus Morris Sr., Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams and Ivica Zubac are expected to be key contributors again, and expectations are the same for Serge Ibaka, who the Clippers signed as a free agent to fill the void left by Harrell.
The big man added 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season with last year’s champions Toronto Raptors, while newcomers Nicolas Batum and Luke Kennard will also be counted for production.
REUTERS TV TIMES
[ad_2]
