The West ISN'T Ready: 4 REASONS Why the Lakers are Set-Up for a DEEPER Playoff Run.

All right, welcome everybody to the

Lakers Legacy podcast where RIP and

condolences to all the dookies all

around the world for the pure madness

that was their march. Particularly

Lakers dookies like JJ Reic and Luke

Canard. What an ending and what a loss

to Dan Hurley and the Yukon Huskies. But

you know what? Something tells me that

Reic and Canard will get over their alma

moater's tragic last second loss because

they frankly got bigger fish to fry

after madnessing their own march this

past month with the Lakers by going 13-2

in their last 15 games. And now the

playoffs await in just two weeks. I'm

your host, Jonathan Hernandez, and your

Los Angeles Lakers are now 48 and 26, 22

games above 500 with just eight games

left to go till the start of their

official road to number 18. And though

Luca Donic will be missing the next game

due to suspension, the vibes are still

higher than they've ever been and the

team looks more locked in than ever. And

in today's episode, we are going to go

over concrete reasons why this year's

Lakers team will have a different, more

positive fate than last year's team. And

while some of the reasons may seem

obvious, I just wanted to make sure to

run through this exercise so that we

could clearly lay everything out on the

table and clearly articulate why I don't

think we as Lakers fans should be

walking into this year's playoffs with

too much lingering PTSD from last

season. So, I've got about four reasons

that I want to go over with you guys

today. But before we get to that, if I

could please ask you guys to like this

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videos, including some nitty-gritty cap

space stuff as well. All right, with

that said, let's get into my four

reasons why this year's Lakers are

different different than last year's

Lakers and why I think they will have a

better fairing in the playoffs and make

it past at least the first round. All

right, so let's get into those four

reasons right now and let's start with

number one, the Lakers Western

Conference competition this year. Now

obviously the same teams exist in the

west but I think things have changed in

certain respects and I actually think if

you dissect each and every team in the

Western Conference this year I think the

Lakers Western Conference competition

has actually gotten weaker. So let's

kind of run through some of the Lakers

potential opponents in the first round

and even the second round. Let's start

with the Houston Rockets. The Rockets,

particularly recently, have been an

absolute mess. The vibes, unlike the

Lakers, have never been more sour. They

just suffered that crazy overtime loss

where they had a double-digit lead and

still lost to the Minnesota

Timberwolves, I believe. Uh they seem

absolutely screwed without a true point

guard. They have missed Fred Van Vleet

the entire year. Reed Shepard, while he

has been good and they have been

relatively good when he has started, is

still not a

veteran point guard that you need to

take that team over the top. Kevin

Durant has been overt taxed and you

almost start to wonder whether the Dylan

Brooks KD swap was worth it for the

culture and vibes alone. This season,

the Lakers are two- one versus the

Houston Rockets. And obviously, the last

two games being those back-to-back games

in Houston, where the Rockets just could

not figure out the Lakers trapping zone

defense on Kevin Durant. And for the

first time in the last few seasons, the

Lakers looked like the more physical and

athletic team. All because the Rockets

had no true offensive cohesion,

cohesion, and offensive creation. So,

number one, I think the Rockets are

weaker, and if the Lakers face off

against the Rockets, I don't think the

Lakers should be too scared. Now, let's

move on to the Denver Nuggets. I know we

always get a lot of PTSD with this one,

which makes sense. They have terrorized

us for multiple seasons when we had

Anthony Davis. But I do think we have to

sort of separate ourselves from the AD

era, which is crazy and hard to do

because last season we still had AD for

the first half of the year. But the

Denver Nuggets,

while I don't necessarily think that

they they got weaker per se, I do think

that our matchup with the Nuggets since

Luca has joined the team has been pretty

vastly different because the Luca Lakers

whenever we face Joic and the Nuggets,

the L the Luca Lakers are a different

beast. And with Luca in tow, it's almost

like we have a Jokic of our own, but at

the wing position to throw at Denver.

And all of a sudden, the Nuggets have

this crazy riddle that they have to

solve on our end. And so far, since the

Luca Donuch trade, the Lakers are 4-2 in

their last six games versus Denver. And

Luca himself is 4-1. The only other

Lakers loss was that one on the road

when both Braun and Luca sat last

season. And if you remember, Austin and

Dalton and randomly shake Milton banded

together and almost beat the Nuggets

themselves short-handed. And that was

the game where Austin and DK, I think,

both put up 30 plus points. But anyways,

the Lakers are 4-2 in their last six

games versus Denver. Luca himself is

4-1. And so this year, I'm a little bit

more confident in a Denver Nuggets

matchup in the first round. Even though

again, it still does

strike fear into my heart for obvious

reasons. But I think once we get over

sort of like the initial PTSD and shock,

I think Lakers fans will come to realize

that I don't know with Luca Donuch, this

might be a matchup we actually want,

especially if we take into account the

last few games where we have looked like

the more

rabid and athletic team against the

Nuggets and have looked more offensively

cohesive than them as well. All right,

so that's the Denver Nuggets. That's the

Houston Rockets. Next up, let's talk

about the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kind of like the Rockets, I feel like

they've been a very lost and messy team

this year that's been searching for

their own identity. Mike Connley's a

year older. Uh they have really missed

Nikuel Alexander Walker. Anthony Edwards

in this latter stretch of the season has

been pretty banged up. Luca Donuch is

actually 4-0 versus the Wolves in the

regular season since he's joined the

Lakers. And this year, the Lakers swept

their season series with the Wolves 3-0.

And while I know we lost to the Wolves

in the playoffs, 1 four last season, we

do have to remember that one, the Wolves

had Nikuel Alexander Walker. Two, Luca

wasn't as healthy and well conditioned

as he was now. I mean, that we were

still talking about, you know, Luca

making his way back from his injury and

honestly, he was not in shape. And then

on top of that, Luca was had a stomach

virus. He was throwing up at halftime in

game three. So, who knows how that

series would have gone if the Lakers

hadn't dropped game three and had a

truly healthy Luca because LeBron was

going off in that game. And then on top

of all of that, Austin Reeves was also

super banged up in that playoff series.

We just didn't find out about his the

what he was dealing with footwise after

that series had already concluded. And

so this season, the Timberwolves, I

don't know. Obviously, there will be

PTSD from having to face them again just

because of how last year's series ended.

But I don't think Lakers fans should be

that afraid either because one, we have

swept and owned the Timberwolves this

season. And two, there are very tangible