If we can kick off the team's playoffs by upsetting the Warriors, it will be a way for the players to improve their morale.

In the NBA playoffs, competition is not only about hardware elements such as players' talent and strength, but also about software-level competition, such as desire to win, ability to withstand pressure, team morale, etc.

You see, in the history of the NBA playoffs, there has never been a shortage of weak teams with low regular season records defeating strong teams with better regular season records and ultimately advancing to the next round.

The past black eight, black seven, and black six cases are the best evidence.

But if they can't beat the Warriors, then the Lakers will have no choice but to launch their second plan.

That is, voluntarily give up the game.

This has two benefits. On the one hand, it can prevent the Lakers' veterans from expending too much physical energy. On the other hand, it mainly helps them pick opponents in the first round of the playoffs.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! This is actually a little thought from the Lakers.

The Lakers are currently ranked fifth in the Western Conference. If they follow this ranking, their first-round opponent in the playoffs will be the Houston Mosaics.

The main reason is that their ranking has dropped to sixth in the Western Conference, and then their opponent in the first round of the playoffs will be the San Antonio Spurs.

Compared to the Mosaic team, which has two super scorers with an unknown upper limit, the Lakers, after careful consideration, prefer the first-round opponent to be the San Antonio Spurs.

The Lakers and Spurs can basically be regarded as the two greatest teams in the 21st century.

In the first decade of the 21st century, from 2000 to 2009, the Lakers won four championships, the Spurs won three championships, and the Pistons, Heat, and Celtics each won one.

The two teams have won 7 championships in 10 years. If the championship in 2010 is also included, it will be 8 championships in 11 years. Their dominance is evident.

Since the Lakers and Spurs are both in the Western Conference, the two teams have fallen in love and killed each other countless times in the past decade or so. The final result is that both sides know each other's ins and outs.

Don’t forget, Kobe once had a nickname, called the Spurs Killer!

Prior to this, Kobe had met the Spurs in a total of 6 series in the playoffs, winning 4 of them.

In these 30 games, Kobe can be called an iron man. He averaged 42.7 minutes per game, scored 28.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists. His shooting percentage also reached 47.3%, which is comparable to the typical statistics of his personal career.

Compared with the previous year, there was a significant increase.

It is precisely because Kobe Bryant has defeated the Spurs many times in the playoffs and his personal statistics are quite luxurious that people call him the Spurs' number one killer.

Even Spurs coach Smarovich has publicly stated that Kobe is the player he thinks is the most difficult to release!

Taking into account the history of the two teams playing against each other, as well as Kobe's inexplicable mystical tendency to easily explode whenever the Spurs met, the Lakers immediately thought carefully and decided to pick the Spurs as their first-round opponent in the playoffs.

All Lakers players have purple and gold blood flowing in their bodies. Even though the league is now full of powerful players, they still have not given up their ambition to compete for the championship.
Chapter completed!