Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts praised the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday after winning the right to face Los Angeles in the nba’s first playoffs.
According to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, Stotts said: “[The Lakers] are the most productive team in the Array league… at least the most productive team in the West. I don’t need to off my friends in Milwaukee. “
The Trail Blazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies 126-122 in a play-in game in the NBA bubble near Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, secured the eighth seed and faced the first Seed Lakers in the first circular of the playoffs.
The Lakers finished 52-19 this season to win No. 1 seed in the West. They also have the third-best NBA record, while the Milwaukee Bucks scored 56-17 and the Toronto Raptors 53-19 to win the two most sensitive seeds at the Eastern Conference.
The Lakers fought a little in qualifying games with a 3-5 record, but as they were necessarily the most sensitive seeds, they were careful with their more productive players and limited the minutes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis in some games.
Meanwhile, the Blazers went 6-2 and needed the victories to finish 35-39. With one more victory than the Grizzlies, they only needed to beat Memphis once to make the playoffs.
While the Lakers have a perfect team, they may be tasked with facing the most productive 8th seed in NBA history.
The Blazers reached the Western Conference final last season and are lately betting their 2019–20 season basketball.
Goalkeeper Damian Lillard’s game is the main reason, as he named NBA player Seeding Games through the league after averaging 37.6 points, 9.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 8 games.
Portland also has a star at the moment in goalkeeper CJ McCollum, one of the all-time top scorers in Carmelo Anthony and half-half Jusuf Nurkic, who has been a bubble despite missing the entire season before the resumption due to injury.
The Lakers would probably be the most productive team in the NBA, but depending on how the Blazers are betting right now, they have a valid chance of knocking out LeBron, AD and company.
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Lillard, Booker, Doncic, Harden and T.J. Warren creates the first full bubble