NBA Wires experts roundtable: Who will win Lakers vs. Thunder series?
Do any of the experts at the USA Today network's NBA Wires sites believe the Lakers have a chance of upsetting the Thunder?
On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers will open their Western Conference semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder . Once again, they will be big underdogs, just as they were in the first round of the playoffs against the Houston Rockets , and they will have to go to war without Luka Doncic, who is still nursing a hamstring strain. The experts at the NBA Wires sites on the USA Today network gave their predictions for how this series will go.
Not a single one of them picked the Lakers, which is an indication of how much work the Purple and Gold will have to get done over the next two weeks or so. Clemente Almanza, Thunder Wire: For the Thunder, they had to lick their chops once this became official. They've had the Lakers' number this season.
They were a plus-117 points across their four regular-season wins. I know you can't make things one-for-one in the two environments, but that type of one-sided dominance is too much to ignore. Especially if Doncic misses several games in this playoff matchup.
The Thunder are just quicker and younger than the Lakers. Both rosters are completely different. OKC has mostly homegrown talent in their early 20s.
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